A Butterfly's Wing
by sjbb21
Summary: Rated T for language in later chapters. One unique Hyuuga from the Sand is going on a shinobi adventure. But Gaara likes her, Kiba likes her, which one will she choose? ON HIATUS FOR A LONG TIME!
1. The Past

** Hidden Sand Village, Sunagakure **

"I will adopt her." said Elder Chiyo holding up a baby who smiled at her back. "She looks like she would be a great shinobi in the Hidden Sand."

"Okay, so what will you name her, sis?" Elder Ebizō asked his elder sister.

"I will name her Ai. Of course because she seems odd, not many shinobi have indigo hair and eyes." replied Elder Chiyo looking at the baby's eyes. It gleamed in light of day. She took the newly adopted child home with her and immediately placed Ai in a cradle since she was crying. Chiyo looked out of her window and smiled slightly. "Welcome home… Ai." 

… **6 years later …**

**Ai's POV (from now on)**

"Grandma Chiyo! I'm going out to play. I'll be home when it's dinner time!" I exclaimed running out of the door. After I reached the playground where all of my friends were playing I noticed a little boy about my age that was hugging a teddy bear on a swing all alone. I knew him; he was Gaara of the Sand.

"Michiko? Can we invite Gaara to play?" I asked my best friend.

"Are you kidding me? He's dangerous, he's a monster! My mommy said to stay away from him." replied Michiko. I didn't believe a single word she said. I didn't know him that much about him; maybe it was because I didn't really talk to him. I stood right in the middle of the game just staring at Gaara.

We started playing soccer but I kicked the ball too high and it ended up on a cliff, "Oh no! Now what are we going to do?" Michiko asked.

Suddenly some sand appeared in the sky and grabbed the ball which landed in Gaara's hands. I wondered how he could do that!

"It's Gaara of the Sand!" my friend, Ayumu exclaimed. Everyone had a scared look on their faces but I didn't. I would've thanked him but everyone ran away and Gaara stopped Michiko and Ayumu with sand which tripped them.

I didn't yell, in fact, I wasn't even scared at all until Gaara released more sand from the ground and it aimed towards me! I shut my eyes as soon as I could and guarded my face with my arms but in a blink of an eye, a man came right in front of me and guarded me.

"Please Gaara-sama, calm down!" the man said panting.

"Yashamaru." replied Gaara in a soft voice, lowering his head. I just stood in the spot, terrified. Michiko and Ayumu were hurt so I ran towards Michiko and helped her get up first and the man, Yashamaru took Ayumu. After Michiko's arm was around my neck, I stared at Gaara for a few moments, not a glare but a wondrous stare.

… **A few days later …**

** Michiko's house **

I went to visit Michiko and check up on her but she wasn't hurt that much, only a few scratches and a couple of bruises, "I'm never going to forgive him! Especially since he's a monster and attacked me!" exclaimed Michiko, I gulped. It was hard to know that she was angry at Gaara but back at the playground she was so scared of him.

Was he really that big of a deal? Grandma Chiyo never told me anything about him. I left the house to go and eat dinner.

** Michiko's front door **

I closed the door until I saw Gaara running towards Michiko's house and I was going to see if he really was dangerous since that's what Michiko said so I hid behind Michiko's house and watched the scene. Gaara knocked on the door softly smiling, "Sorry about earlier," Gaara said, "It hurt right? Here, I got you some ointment to clear up those wounds."

"Go home! Monster!" Michiko exclaimed and shut the door right in Gaara's face. Gaara looked, how should I say, torn up. He looked so sad and dropped the ointment. I knew I had to cheer him up, Michiko said he was a monster but he bought her some ointment, I mean, he's was really nice to think of her.

"Gaara!" I exclaimed in a smack second before he could run off, "I'm not afraid of you." I started hiding my face to make sure I didn't blush when I said this part. "I think you're actually sweet, how you bought Michiko some ointment, you cared for her. Even though she's still afraid yet angry of you don't listen to a word she says! I don't think of you as a monster, I think you have a sweet heart."

"Do you really think so?" asked Gaara. I nodded my head with a big smile and he smiled back. "Thank you!"

"My name is Ai." Until that day, we became inseparable.

One day, the man who tried to protect me-Yashamaru-died. After I heard the rumours, I saw Gaara, but this time he had a Kanji symbol on his left part of his forehead meaning 'love.' I decided not to bother him for a while; he must be really depressed as his uncle died.

** Ai's house **

"Grandma Chiyo! Tell me a story please!" I begged as Grandma Chiyo sat on a lounge chair. As I sat down in front of her.

"Oh okay, there was a boy named Sasori, he lived in Suna and his obaasan would look after him when his parents were on missions. One day his parents were killed by Hatake Sakumo also known as 'Konoha's White Fang.' After a while, Sasori heard that his parents were killed so his obaasan taught him puppetry to get his parents off their minds. After he was 15 years old, he disappeared. Sasori has the nickname 'Sasori of the red sand', and Sasori is your brother Ai." said Grandma Chiyo.

I was shocked, Sasori was my brother? How could that be? I had a whole bunch of unanswered questions in my head!

"Sasori, is my brother?" I asked with a curious face.

"Yes indeed."

"Then tell me Grandma Chiyo, how could Sasori's parents, be my parents if Sasori's parents were killed by 'Konoha's White Fang'?"

"You were adopted, I adopted you actually. I should have told you sooner. You see, even though we don't know your birth parents, it should be considered that you have 2 parents."

"2 parents?"

"Yes, one that gave birth to you and one that loves you even though they died. Before they left and arrived at Konoha and died they requested that I adopt another baby, a new baby that would be their child." Grandma Chiyo explained, "Now that baby… is you." I smiled.

"So Grandma Chiyo, my brother disappeared when he was 15?" I started questioning her again.

"Yes, about 22 years ago."

"And he was a puppeteer and you taught him?"

"Yes." replied Grandma Chiyo.

"So my parents were killed by Hatake Sakumo? What does he look like?"

"Oh I can't answer that, I've only seen him once and I heard he died. I was very angry that I hadn't taken my revenge for my son and my daughter-in law, since I am growing older that means you will have to take my revenge for me, Ai."

"What? Really?" I asked.

"And I know you will do very well by taking my revenge, what you're looking for is the 'White Fang's' son, I heard his wife had a baby." replied Grandma Chiyo.

"Yes! I will get revenge for mum and dad!" I exclaimed standing up while Grandma Chiyo patted me on the head.

** Training Grounds **

The next day I kept training so I could get revenge, I knew that 'Konoha's White Fang's' son would be really tough. He would be much of a challenge and a tough opponent. I trained until it was dinner time. I was training in a deserted place and so far I split a few logs in half and I was trying to split the last one. I did my best to crush that log until I was almost out of chakra.

No! I can't give up! I wanted to train until the very day I would face the son of 'Konoha's White Fang'! I grabbed my bag that was all empty and had one strap that was hanging on my right shoulder and went across my chest and stomach and connected to my bag on the left part of my waist. I was more of a copycat ninja and my techniques would come out of the bag. I decided to give up and walk back home but give another punch at the log.

I was running towards the log and jumped into the air, I was landing near the log and held out my fist and punched the log with what I had left of my chakra limit. I landed on the ground with a quick thud and the log broke! Even though I was almost out of chakra, I was able to walk back home with a smile on my face.

** Streets of Suna **

I was walking across a window from a restaurant until I heard some footsteps behind me. It was a man that had violet eyes, and looked at me with a straight face, why _is_ he staring at me?

"Byakugan!" he exclaimed and veins showed around his eyes, "Fight me, and I will see if you are gifted." What was he telling me? If I was gifted? Why would I even fight him, I'm so tired from my training and almost out of chakra! This man had a look that made me jump a little, he was glaring at me! If I wanted to get home then I'd have to fight him!

"Okay, I will fight you, what will happen if I win?"

"That is a surprise, and then you may go home," he replied. What does he mean, _and then_ go home?

"And if I lose?"

"You might die." What? I might die? I sweated a little and a sweat drop fell from my face and to the ground with a quiet 'plop'! I had to win this fight! No matter what it takes! I got into my fighting position and I ran towards him.

I was coming at him but then he already disappeared! Where was he? If he wasn't in front of me then he must be behind me! He didn't even break a sweat! If he was a challenge then I would have to be more serious. I hadn't learnt many techniques so my bag was useless. _What should I do?_ I asked in my mind repeatedly. I didn't even have my mini bag with my darts and knives, what was I thinking? If I'm not careful, I could get wiped out! He was able to come at me in such a fast pace and push me on my chest, wait! I felt something! Blood came out of my mouth and it was like I was already tired, why is he fighting _me_? I fell down on my back and my back felt the pain of when I landed. I need to get up! I need to win! I couldn't die yet; I had to take my revenge! It was time to get serious!

I pushed myself to get up, I had to force myself to get up. I got back into my fighting position again. This time I ran towards the man yet he pushed me back again! I landed again the same way I did before. Why am I so useless? Why can't I win this match? I'm reaching my limit! I was so tired; I shouldn't have wasted my chakra on a stupid log!

"Don't underestimate me, you are useless," the man said, "My name is Hyūga Hiashi." Of the Hyūga clan in the fire country? What is he doing here? Does he have permission?

"I have already consulted with Elder Chiyo and you will pack your bags and leave with me back to Konoha in the Fire country for some special training for about 10 days after we arrive at Konoha." Hiashi explained. "I will explain everything when we get to Konoha, we will leave tomorrow morning, understood?" Hiashi asked. I nodded and he left immediately. Grandma Chiyo is letting me go with a stranger? I thought she hated Konoha's help.

** Ai's house **

I had a good sleep and recovered from last night's battle. I knew that it would be a 3 day trip to Konoha. All of the time that I was packing and getting dressed, I was thinking about all of the things Hiashi said to my last night, it echoed in my mind. I guess I was ready to say goodbye to everyone, though I was only 6, I was ready for some hard training!

** Suna's Main Entrance **

It was time for me to go and all of my friends were at the main entrance waving me goodbye, "Goodbye, Ai-sama!" Ayumu exclaimed.

"Bye, have a nice trip!" Michiko said.

"Uh, Ai-sama?" Gaara asked.

"Yes, Gaara-sama?"

"Good luck." replied Gaara. I nodded and smiled, I was excited as I was traveling to Konoha! I can't wait until I get there!

**Hey Guys! I've decided to post this story up again! I was losing interest but now I'm a little more motivated now! So I'm going to re-write the whole Chūnin Exams. If you've watched the Japanese version of Naruto, from now on I'm going to be following that! So please review! **

**I'm just going to be like my best friend, yerashi9921 and give you cookies if you review! Oh and I've also renamed the story to A Butterfly's Wing.**


	2. Byakugan Secrets

** Hidden Leaf Village, Konoha **

… **Day 1 …**

We arrived in Konoha and I really wanted to see the new places, "Hiashi-sama? Can we look around?" I asked politely. He looked at me and shook his head, "First we must go to the Hyūga clan dojo." was his reply. A dojo? I guess we should do training at a dojo. When we walked to the dojo, I saw the coolest things ever! I wish I could stick around and all but why do I have to go to a dojo?

Before we entered there was a sign that said 'Hyūga Clan', were there any people inside? We finally entered after I examined the sign and there _were_ people inside! One was about 1 year older than me, 1 that was about the same age as me and that last one was about 1 or 2 years younger.

"Ai, this is my nephew, Hyūga Neji." Hiashi introduced me to the boy with long brown hair. He sort of looked like me, "this is my daughter, Hyūga Hinata." Hiashi said introducing me to girl with short, dark blue hair. She looked shy so I smiled to break out her confidence, it sort of worked but at the same time it didn't. All that was left was a little girl that looked a little bit like Hiashi, "and this is Hinata's sister, Hyūga Hanabi. Now, Hinata, I want you to start training. The rest will watch." Hinata nodded and walked to the centre of the room.

I saw her fight Hiashi-sama and she ran fast but he was just way too fast and dodged them, I saw how fast he was and how slow Hinata-sama was. She really fight like me and fought like me. Although I was almost out of chakra when I fought him, Hinata is weaker than me, she's full of chakra and she's already losing. She already looks tired, I saw her breathing heavily, gasping for oxygen. It had only been about a few dodges and a couple of runs in a few minutes. I can she is weak, but she has a kind heart, she probably doesn't even want to fight, "Your foot work isn't good, Hinata you have done enough, now Ai, let's see you fight this time." said Hiashi-sama. Hinata-sama was still heavily breathing once she sat down. I knew Hiasha-sama would still be tough, maybe even tougher since we had a few stops on our way to Konoha. What should I do this time?

I should attack him while he's dodging! Brilliant! Aren't I a genius, well not really. It was almost impossible for a 6 year old like me to have such speed. Anyways, it's better said than done.

I ran towards him and got out a kunai knife from my mini bag and tried to stab him but not too hard, if it was possible, I could get him! Right when I was supposed to hit him, he dodged straight away, now this is my chance to try again!

While he was dodging I tried to punch him but he dodged again! My eyes widened for a moment and I just noticed that I was going to land on my face!

Too late, my face met the floor. Great strategy but slow speed. I should've learnt some techniques on our way to Konoha, guess I have to use my shuriken and kunai knives.

I got out my shuriken and swiftly threw them at Hiashi – what? I missed! How is that possible? He is just way too fast; I have to find a way to stop him! Although I can take it easy, this wasn't a battle or anything.

I ran towards Hiashi-sama again and struck out my palm and…..! I was able to push him backwards! He took a few steps back and breathed a little. He stood properly and said, "Ai, you have done well, we are done with our training for today. Ai, come with me," Hiashi said and walked into a room with a table and tea. "Yes." I replied. I sat down and drank some water instead.

"Ai, when you fought me just then I knew at that second that you are gifted unlike I thought last time." Hiashi-sama said.

"Really Hiashi-sama?"

"Yes, you are gifted with Byakugan. Your birth mother was from the Hyūga clan. But she left you in the Sand Village at the orphanage. She didn't want you to become a part of the Hyūga clan because of Byakugan. But I shall allow you to use it and become part of the Hyūga clan and but also a part of the Sand. Do want to learn how to use Byakugan?" Hiasha-sama explained. I gulped, was Hiashi-sama really telling me the truth? Was I a part of the Hyūga clan? Grandma Chiyo didn't tell me any of this. If I agreed, then I might learn more about my birth parents. I nodded.

"Great, we will train every day and soon I will teach you about the kekkei genkai." Hiashi-sama explained.

"Thank you Hiashi-sama!" I exclaimed. I walked out of the room and I saw Hinata so I ran to her and asked if she wanted to look around Konoha for a bit.

"I'm sorry, I can't. I can't go anywhere without chichi," replied Hinata, man I was really disappointed.

"It's okay Hinata-sama, you don't have to be sorry. I don't have an adult with me either so I probably shouldn't go too."

… **Day 2 …**

Hiashi-sama and I were training madly. If I ran towards him, he disappear!

"Okay Ai, you must learn to sneak up on your opponent without a single sound. You must be very swift, just watch." Hiashi-sama said and appeared right behind me.

"Okay, but how can I?" I asked.

"We must train until you _can _sneak up on _me_," replied Hiashi-sama. I nodded, this would take almost 4 days to learn!

"When will I be able to learn Byakugan like you told me you would teach me?"

"That is after you can disappear and re-appear behind your opponent," explained Hiashi-sama. What? Now I have to push myself to do this hard work, or else I won't be able to use Byakugan. We continued.

After a while we stopped and Hiashi-sama and I talked for a while. "Hiashi-sama? Do you really know who my birth parents are?" I asked. It was silent for a moment until Hiashi-sama replied, "Yes. In fact, you remind me much of your mother. She had the same indigo hair and eyes as you. It was strange for a Hyūga. Though she used the Byakugan to get stronger in many ways. I believe you could be just like her one day."

"Can you please tell me about my mother and father?" I begged.

"Yes, it all started 11 years ago. Hinata's mother and your mother were friends. I always saw them doing something together. The day I married Hinata's mother, and your father married your mother, Hinata's mother and your mother would still did something with each other every day. When you were born your mother was afraid you might get hurt if you used the Byakugan in some way so she ran away to the Hidden Sand Village and left you in the orphanage so you wouldn't get involved with anyone in the Hyūga clan. It was only 3 years ever since you were born and your mother died and your father was all by himself. I don't know where he is anymore." I was disappointed to hear that last part. Why would my father do something like that? It was a mystery.

… **Day 7 …**

Neji-kun, Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama were watching my match with Hiashi-sama again. I had been doing a lot of training ever since day 2. I got stronger and faster, hopefully today I will be able to be even faster than Hiashi-sama.

I'm just a little tired, but that can't stop me from beating Hiashi-sama! On day 4 of training, Hiashi had to use all of his strength before I lost (which were a few minutes later). I was for sure, getting stronger; maybe today I will learn how to use Byakugan!

I ran towards him, but only to re-appear behind him! Yes! I finally learnt how to sneak up on opponents! I stopped and so did Hiashi-sama. "Ai, you have learnt to be that swift that I almost didn't realize you were there. Now it is time for you to use Byakugan." Said Hiashi-sama.

"Thank you Hiashi-sama! Thank you!" I thanked with such a big smile. It was more like, I was so excited that I couldn't let it all out! All I could do was smile? No way! I had to cheer! But I just couldn't, until….I let the excitement all out! I cheered and Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama smiled.

… **Day 10 …**

I learnt how to use Byakugan in 3 days! (I'm not going to explain all of that stuff about when you're using Byakugan) It was finally time to go back to Suna! Wait a minute! I didn't get to meet anyone or even walk around the place! I was stuck at the dojo all of this time! But we were here to train though.

"Hiashi-sama? _Now_ can I look at this place? Please!" I begged.

"I suppose so, you've earned the right to be on your own." replied Hiashi-sama. Yeah! Finally, now I get to meet new people! "But don't forget that we have to leave tomorrow!" Hiashi-sama told me before I ran out of the dojo.

I was finally out of that dojo and get to walk around in new places, hopefully I won't get lost.

** Konoha Streets **

I walked by a couple of shops but I was interested for some reason. Either this place was boring or else I wasn't in the mood to be looking around.

I passed an academy that looked like Suna's. I was examining it for a while until a boy came up to me and blurted immediately, "Hey! Are you new here?"

"Uh, yeah! I'm from the Hidden Sand Village. I came here to train with someone." I replied.

"Hm, right. I know you're not from here by your scent," He sniffed me? Did I smell bad or something?

"It's rude to smell someone out! What kind of a freak are you?"

"My name is Inuzuka Kiba, and you are?"

"Hyūga Ai, say, who's that?" I asked pointing to a dog in Kiba's jacket.

"Oh, that's Akamaru. And you don't really seem like a Hyūga to me. One of my classmates uh, Hinata has violet eyes. You have indigo ones and indigo hair."

"That's the point of my name!" I exclaimed. It was true, Ai meant indigo. "Uh, Kiba? Do you go to this academy?"

"Sure do. Why, are you jealous because you don't go to an academy like this?" he smirked.

"What? Idiot! I'll have you know that I go to a better academy than this!"

"You're funny, I like you." he said chuckling. What did he just say? He…likes…me? I suddenly felt my cheeks getting hotter by the second.

"Um, was that supposed to be a compliment…or something?"

"You're clueless aren't you? You're cute, get it?"

"Are you…serious? You…like…me?"

"No, just seeing if you're that gullible," Gullible? "You know, I think, you actually are kind of…cute."

"I'm not falling for that again."

"It's not a joke this time," Kiba said. "When are you going to leave?" he asked changing the subject.

"I'm leaving tomorrow and I might not come back, I only came here to do some special training with the Hyūga clan."

"I see. Well let's spend some time together, I'll show you around the village." Was Kiba really offering me all of this? Was this a joke? If it is I don't think it's funny!

… **Midday …**

Kiba showed me around the village and I actually saw some interesting things unlike last time I walked around.

"Aren't your parents going to get mad that you didn't tell them about any of this and you skipped class?" I asked while we ate ramen.

"Nah! I'm way too cool to go to that place, it's just boring at times." replied Kiba acting all cool. It sort of made me chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Kiba asked.

"No, it's nothing. You know what? You're kind of cute too, especially Akamaru." I replied patting his head while I saw him sort of blush.

"Are you really going to be gone for that long? I really would like it if you were here with me, you seem cool." Kiba said.

"I don't know, I suppose at some time I might visit!" I said smiling.

_How could I not come back and visit, he's cute!_

**Please review, I'll give you cupcakes…**


	3. A Memory that I don't Understand!

**Hidden Sand Village **

I was a part of the Hyūga clan and part of the Sand village! I received my Byakugan from Hiashi-sama and he escorted me back to Suna. My friends were excited to see me after 16 days except for Gaara-sama and his family. When I saw him, Temari and Kankurō, and Kazekage-sama they were glaring at me, why? I tried to ignored that for a while.

"Welcome home Ai!" Michiko exclaimed as I walked towards her and Ayumu.

"What's up Ai-sama?" Ayumu asked as we talked as a group. Hiashi-sama left Suna immediately for some reason and I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. After I talked to Michiko and Ayumu for a while, I decided to talk to Gaara.

**Gaara's House **

I knocked on Gaara's front door and it was about a few moments until Gaara opened the door. I was excited to see him! Of course I wasn't thinking about him all that time I was training, no, no, I was too busy focusing on becoming stronger, pshht, like I'd care about Gaara that much! Do I?

"Hello Gaara-sama! How have you been? It's been a long time since the last time I saw you." I said as I entered his house.

"Oh, hello Ai. I'm great, actually I was thinking for a moment when you left, why are you training with the Hidden Leaf Village? I mean you can train here can't you?" Gaara asked as we entered his bedroom.

"I was training to get stronger for my revenge, and win!" I said clutching my fist and punching the air with a grin on my face.

… **4 years later …**

**Training Grounds **

Gaara-sama, Michiko, Ayumu and I were 10 years old, Kankurō was 12 and Temari was 13. I was at the training grounds, training with Michiko. I had my kunai, shuriken and my empty black bag. I had learnt some new techniques before Grandma Chiyo retired with Great Uncle Ebizō.

"You know Ai, I still think that Gaara is a monster, I can't believe you still hang around him and his brother and sister." Michiko said throwing shuriken at a target on a log.

"Michiko, you're so immature, Gaara-sama, is well…" I replied. I couldn't really answer the question. Gaara had become ignorant of me ever since I went to go train with Hiashi-sama.

"Well?" Michiko turned to face me. I was concentrating on the target, not her, but I missed! Man she must really be getting to me.

"Uh, well, maybe, you just," I said slowly, "gotta respect him, I mean-"

"See? I knew it, you think he's a monster too you just can't admit it because you're too nice!" Michiko said teasing me. I paused for a moment. I felt like I was getting angry.

"No! That's not true! I'm mean sometimes! Like you and how you try to look good, who cares about looks? You don't even look that pretty, dumb-Michiko!"

"So? Let's see you try look pretty, oh wait you've tried your hardest but it's no use trying to look pretty yourself, ugly-Ai!"

"Take that back!"

"Make me!"

We glared at each other and it was like lightning was between our eyes and we were getting ready to battle each other.

"Hey guys! Stop fighting!" a voice in the distance called out. I turned around to see that Ayumu was calling out to us.

"That's it! I'm sick of Michiko bad-mouthing about Gaara-sama! He's a very important person to me so why don't you stop picking on him and Kankurō and Temari!" I shouted right in their ears.

"Ai-sama, calm down!" Ayumu said putting his hands on my shoulders while I still glared at Michiko, she smirked! Geez, I'm the Elder Chiyo's granddaughter for crying out loud! She shouldn't ever do this to someone as important as me!

"Gr! I don't want to calm down! That's it from now on, you Michiko, are my rival and I'm going to prove to you that Gaara-sama isn't a monster!"

"Fine!" replied Michiko.

From until that day, we were always competing with each other.

… **A couple of weeks later …**

I had been training like hell since it was official that Michiko and I were rivals. I was like a mad beast when I was training. I had focused my chakra in different parts of my body. When I focused it in my hand I would use that chakra to punch. When it was in my leg, I would kick. By now I could knock down a tree with a single kick or a really tough punch. I asked Ayumu to look at how tougher I am than before.

I kicked the tree and Ayumu freaked out! "Wow, Ai-sama. I want to be like you!" Was he inspired or afraid? I don't get him. "That isn't all, I'm going to become stronger!" I exclaimed.

"No! No, you can't get stronger! You'll wreck the whole village if you throw a tantrum! Wait, I want to be just like you, Ai-sama!" What is he trying to say? Is he afraid or not? Ayumu is totally unpredictable.

I continued my training and got stronger maybe around weekly. I loved my new strength that I even gathered my classmates to see.

One of my classmates – Shun – called out, "You're inhuman! What do you call yourself, a hero? You could destroy the whole village! You're a person with monstrous strength! The whole village could hate you! Now I'm even starting to hate you!"

"What? What's wrong with having such strength?" I asked confused. I don't understand.

"Shun is right. The village is better off without you. We don't care if you're Elder Chiyo's granddaughter anymore, you're a monster!" my other classmate – Manami – replied.

I don't understand. Why are they treating me like I'm such a nuisance to them? Why are they treating me this way? I don't understand! I screamed in my thoughts. Everyone walked away with a disgusted look on their face. I was all alone. Why did they just leave me like this? What is it that's wrong with me?

**Please review this sad little chapter of Ai's past… I'll give you muffins!**


	4. Chunin Exams, Back to Konoha!

… **2 years later …**

** Ai's house **

Gaara-sama, Michiko, Ayumu and I were now 12 years old, Kankurō was 14 and Temari was 15 and almost every day, we got stronger and stronger. Michiko and I also made some new friends and worked best with certain ones. I got out of bed and got dressed.

I was dressed into a grey jacket covering my purple top along with my blue shorts and a violet belt that matched my eye. I also wore leather fingerless gloves and a purple headband with my side fringe hanging out. I clipped my mini bag filled with shuriken and kunai on my belt and had my empty black bag.

It was time for me to meet up with Michiko, Shun, Isamu, Kouki and Ayumu to go to the Academy and graduate to be a Genin! After I ate my breakfast I ran straight out of the door and across the streets to the Training grounds where we all met up with each other. I hope I wasn't late! Especially if Michiko gets there before me, then she'll really get on my nerves.

** Training Grounds **

After I reached the training grounds I saw Michiko running towards the training grounds. Ha! I finally beat her here, all the other times we either had a draw or I lost. From now on I know I would win all the time we would race each other.

"Hey dumb-Michiko, so you're late." I said teasing her and laughing out loud. The boys were there so I guess they were waiting for us. We walked together to the academy but I was on the right side of the boys while Michiko was on the left.

** Academy **

Yesterday, we had our test to become a Genin. We're waiting for the results before class started, "I just know I'll pass I just know it! I'll catch up to Gaara-sama and get revenge!" I exclaimed while talking to Isamu and Kouki.

"Yeah, we'll all pass, remember?" Kouki said flashbacking about yesterday, right before the test.

**Flashback**

"Okay everyone, we'll will begin the test to graduate from the academy and become a Genin." our teacher, Naoki-sensei said to us.

"Don't worry guys," I whispered to Isamu and Kouki while Naoki-sensei explained what we'll be doing for the test, "I'll support you all the way."

"Thanks, Ai-sama, we can always count on you," Isamu whispered back.

"Ai-sama and Isamu, do you want to tell me what I just said?" Naoki-sensei asked interrupting us with a mad look. We gulped, we didn't really know how to answer that.

**End Flashback**

"Oh yeah, you'll definitely pass as well guys," I said trying to cover my mistakes up.

"Yeah, sure." Isamu said sarcastically. Naoki-sensei entered the room with a clipboard and some forehead protectors with the Sand symbol carved on it. Alright! Now we'll see who has passed!

"Alright, now pay attention everyone. I have good news, everyone, passed!" Naoki-sensei exclaimed and I jumped in the air! I finally graduated!

"And now, you'll be sorted into groups containing 3 Genin and 1 Jonin that will be your new sensei." Naoki-sensei said in the middle of our cheering. Teams? I never knew that.

"Now Squad 1, Hyūga Ai-sama, Inuzuka Isamu and Aburame Kouki, the Jōnin for your team will be Naomi." Naoki-sensei said and pointed to a girl that sort of looked like him. Even their names were alike, "You're lucky, all 3 of you, Naomi is my older sister." Naoki sensei said.

WOW! That would explain a lot! I'm also lucky that I'm not in a team with Michiko. I instantly grabbed a forehead protector, took off my headband, let out my side fringe and tied the forehead protector around my neck.

"Squad 2, Michiko, Ayumu and Shun, the Jōnin for your team will be, Yasu."

** Training Grounds **

YAHOO! I sure love this team! No Michiko and I will have Naoki-sensei's nee-chan as my sensei!

"We will all introduce ourselves, all of your hobbies, you likes, your dislikes and you dream come true, now let's start off with you." said Naomi-sensei pointed at me.

"Oh, okay, my name is Hyūga Ai, my hobbies are learning new techniques, and I like my Byakugan, dumplings from Konoha and scaring people like these two." I pointed at Isamu and Kouki. "My dislikes are Michiko and my classmate, Ryou and anything sour, my dreams are that I will prove to Michiko that Gaara-sama isn't a monster, to take my revenge for my mum and dad and find my birth parents!" I said. The guys and even Naomi-sensei were shocked about how hyped I was. Was I really that hyped up?

"Okay, good, interesting, now it is your turn." Naomi-sensei said turning to Isamu.

"My name is Inuzuka Isamu, my hobbies are training, I like my classmate –Manami-, I dislike having to be scolded by women and I don't really have a dream," said Isamu.

"Okay and you?" Naomi-sensei asked Kouki.

"My name is Aburame Kouki, my hobby is looking back at my memories, I like drawing and I dislike bugs, they're annoying, and my dream is to help Suna become a good village." Kouki said with his hands to his mouth.

"Uh… Naomi-sensei? What about you?" I asked.

"Oh, uh… let's see, I'm Yūhi Naomi, my hobby is well, I don't have a hobby. I like drawing and challenges, I dislike going to Jōnin meetings and my dream is… well, to be honest… my dream is to become the first female Kazekage but let's face it, it's probably not going to come true." said Naomi-sensei.

"You really want to become Kazekage even though you hate going to the Jōnin meetings?"

"Great now we've met everyone. We will get our mission tomorrow and I will explain everything, remember to pack for tomorrow and bring your ninja stuff with you oh and by the way I'll give you a little advice for tomorrow's mission. Don't eat breakfast or you could puke! Oh and you're going to have to wake up and be in the 7th training ground by 3:00 am." Naomi-sensei ignored my question.

"Alright!" we all exclaimed and walked in the streets.

** Suna Streets **

"So what do you think the mission is going to be?" I asked Isamu and Kouki.

"Maybe something boring, I don't know but it won't be that tough. They always give the rookies an easy mission like walk a dog or something." replied Isamu.

"What about Naomi-sensei? She looks pretty! Not just that she's even Naoki-sensei's sister. I still can't get used to it but it's just that she's more jumpy than Naoki-sensei."

"Maybe," Kouki said before we all left to get ready for the mission.

… **After the mission …**

"That was ***pant*** tougher than ***pant*** I thought ***pant***," I said panting. We just finished our mission which was to take some bells off of Naomi-sensei. We were able to take the bells off of her except for Isamu. But he managed to complete the mission. I had to use my Byakugan, my shuriken, my kunai and dodge all of her techniques, which I memorised just before I could dodge it.

"I'm a tough ninja to beat aren't I?" Naomi-sensei sort of bragged.

"You said it Naomi-sensei," Isamu replied.

"Now you'll do some more missions like that except a little bit easier then you'll be able to do some harder ones. After that, you'll be able to face other Genin." Naomi-sensei explained.

"Okay so when is our next mission?" Isamu asked.

"Oh, maybe tomorrow or the next day so don't worry, you'll have lots of time." Naomi-sensei answered. I guess easier mission will have to do, for now. But just wait until I get stronger, then I will beat Michiko and rule the day!

** Hidden Sand Village, Suna, Kazekage's Office **

… **After 11 more missions …**

"The mission was a complete success and we got through it quickly didn't we guys?" Naomi-sensei asked. Surely the mission wasn't tough enough for me to sweat.

"Naomi-sensei and Kazekage-sama? When are we going to get harder missions?" I asked before I could answer Naomi-sensei's question. Naomi-sensei gave a quiet 'huh' and looked at Kazekage-sama. He nodded and we left? Wait a minute why did we just leave? I still need an answer!

"Now guys, you've done very well and you've improved on your strategies. The Chūnin Exams are coming up and I want you to compete in them." Naomi-sensei explained.

"Chūnin Exams?" I asked with a dumb look on my face.

"Yeah, the Chūnin Exams are for all of the Genin to compete in so that they can become a Chūnin and get harder mission. Kazekage-sama agreed that you should take the Exams; all of you are ready, now it's time to show your true power and battle with other Genin. You will compete in the Chūnin Exams in The Hidden Leaf Village, Konoha. We leave in a couple of days so get some rest, pack your ninja equipment anything extra and at some point you can work out a strategy. Some stages, you will need to work individually and one of the stages you will work as a team, got it?"

"Yes!" we replied.

"Now, you can go and get some rest, I will call you when we leave okay? Well then see you later," Naomi-sensei said before leaving us.

"Bye!" I exclaimed before leaving Isamu with Kouki.

** Training Grounds **

I ran straight to the Training grounds and look if Michiko was there.

I looked around and saw Michiko with her team aiming shuriken at a target, as usual. "Hey dumb-Michiko guess what?"

"What is it now ugly-Ai? We're in the middle of our training so back off and don't disturb us." replied Michiko. Wow, she's gotten really mean, like a rival should be.

"Geez, I was just going to show off and that I'm going to compete in the Chūnin Exams and I'll be a Chūnin before you will!" I bragged.

"That really isn't showing off at all, we just finished our mission today and we're going to compete in the Chūnin Exams as well, so there, you lost again." Michiko smirked. I lost again!

"Well once I beat you up in the Chūnin Exams then I'll never lose to you again!" I exclaimed getting my hopes back up.

"Then we'll see who the biggest loser is soon!" We both glared at each other once again. "Michiko, let's finish our training," Shun said.

Michiko smirked once more and so I gave a big 'humph' before leaving. Man, I can tell you she was one of the most annoying girls that were in my class at the academy!

** Suna Streets **

On my way back home to get ready for the Chūnin Exams until I saw a boy with red hair and a straight face…It was Gaara-sama! I ran over to him and asked, "Hello Gaara-sama! I'm going to be in the Chūnin Exams, aren't you?"

"Of course it is part of our mission to go to Konoha and compete in the Chūnin Exams. I'm going to be in a team with Temari and Kankuro and my father's friend, Baki." replied Gaara with a low tone.

"Well I'll see you there! And good luck!" I walked back home.

… **A few days later …**

** Hidden Leaf Village, Konoha **

Looks like I'm back…from when I trained with Hiasha-sama, and where I met Kiba-kun! I hadn't seen him since we were 6 years old. Time has really passed by. But before I find Kiba-kun, Hinata-sama and Neji-kun, I think I'll stick around with Gaara-sama and meet Hatake Kakashi's students and I disappeared at the entrance of Konoha.

** Konoha Streets **

I re-appeared where I saw a pink-haired girl dressed in red, I'm thinking she must be weak. Her name was Haruno Sakura.

A dark-haired boy with blue and white clothing. He must have thought he was the best. How lame, his name was Uchiha Sasuke.

And apparently there was a blond-haired boy all dressed in orange and blue. I didn't know his name. I could tell from his looks that he was just an idiot. Well I'd better introduce myself since Gaara-sama and his brother and sister left. I was able to sneak up behind Sasuke in a blink of an eye, right behind him.

"So, they were actually trying to pick a fight with you? Uchiha-lamo?" I smirked.

"Hey! You don't say anything bad about Sasuke-kun or you're going to be in big trouble!" Sakura exclaimed. This time I appeared behind Sakura.

"If you're so strong, then why don't you come at me? Girly-Sakura?" she was surprised I was behind her.

"Hey! I don't care if you're a girl! Don't you ever talk to Sakura-chan like that ever again! Or I'll beat you up! And someday I'll become Hokage 'ttebayo!" The orange-dressed boy exclaimed like Sakura did.

I had to hesitate for a moment. "What's your name?" I asked turning to face him. I had to admit, he wouldn't be strong or popular or anything, he was a nobody. I never knew his name. And the kid fell to the ground.

"Well anyway, I don't really care. So, you're all Hatake Kakashi's students, right?" I asked grinning.

"Yeah, so?" Sakura asked.

"Oh nothing, it's just that," I said appearing at the blond-haired boy's side, "he's going to be my future…rival. And if any of you get stronger, then I'm guessing you're my rival as well," I said eyeing Sakura and Sasuke.

I saw Sakura hesitate for a moment. I could see her gritting her teeth together. She was definitely afraid of me now.

"And of course, you wouldn't be able to be compared with me, you're all too weak. You don't know my true potential, I'll see you…at the Chūnin Exams."

"Wait…what's your name?" Sasuke asked right before I could disappear again.

"I'm Hyūga Ai, from Sunagakure."

"Hyūga?" the blond-haired boy asked.

"You can find out more about me by asking Kiba-kun and Hinata-sama, bye for now, hmph." And I disappeared.

I was smirking as I looked around more in Konoha. I totally freaked them out! Now I've become more like Naomi-sensei, speaking of Naomi-sensei, where was she? And the rest of my team, or at least Michiko's team as well? What if I got to meet Hanabi-sama, Hinata-sama, Neji-kun and Kiba-kun again! If I look around the village more, maybe I'll bump into Kiba like I did at the academy.

I walked around for a while, and not a single glimpse of any of my friends, especially Kiba-kun and Gaara-sama. I hadn't talk both of them for a while. Not ever since I left Suna to train in Konoha and ever since I left Konoha and returned to Suna. I didn't like how I just said goodbye after we were friends, but Gaara-sama, has been ignoring me for how long now? He barely talks to me ever since we were 6. And I hadn't ever visited Kiba-kun after I thought or I promised I would.

** Training Grounds **

I guess I don't remember Konoha as much as last time I came here. I don't even know where I'm going. I sighed, I'm lost!

A few moments after, I looked around at my surroundings, wait a minute! There were kids training, they looked like they were my age. As well as a lady looking at the sky. I examined the 3 kids; one girl looked a lot…like me! The same violet eyes as me! Then there were the 2 boys next to her gasping for breath. One had a puppy in his shirt that looked so familiar and the other boy looked like he was covering most of his face.

Why did they look so familiar? I guess I should ask one of them to show me around.

"Um, hi," I said shyly as they turned around to look at me. I kept trying to backtrack and figure out who they were, "um, can one of you show me around? I'm from the Hidden Sand Village and I got lost."

The boy with the puppy in his shirt said, "Sure, I'll show you around, my name is Inuzuka Kiba and you are?" I gasped loudly! That voice, the way he talks, he is Kiba!

"Kiba, Kiba-kun! I haven't seen you since we were six and you showed me around and how you thought I was gullible and skipped class and I promised I would visit you and we ate ramen together!" I exclaimed as I hugged Kiba-kun tightly and we fell to the ground. I saw the little puppy that came out of his shirt and barked at me in the cutest way! He must be Akamaru!

"Hey, wow! Wait a minute, you're Ai-chan?" Kiba asked with a confused face and pushed me off of him. I nodded and chuckled. "You don't remember me?"

"Well of course I do! I haven't seen you since we were six. My, you've grown."

"Uh, hi, A-Ai-chan," the violet-eyed girl stuttered. Her hair style, she must be…Hinata-sama!

"Hinata, Hinata-sama! I haven't seen you since I trained with Hiashi-sama!" I exclaimed while getting up from the ground and dusting myself.

"I-It's good t-to s-see you again A-Ai-chan," Hinata said in a high and soft voice, just like she used to. I looked at the boy that was covering half of his face, "Oh and this is?"

"I'm Aburame Shino, and I'm guessing you're friends with Kiba and Hinata, right?" Huh? Wait a minute he was from the same clan as Kouki!

"It's nice to meet you Shino, when we were 6 years old, I became friends with Kiba-kun and I'm a family friend of Hinata-sama." I explained.

"So Ai-chan, why are you here?" Kiba interrupted.

"I'm here for the-"

"Um, hi my name is Yūhi Kurenai, I'm Hinata, Kiba and Shino's Sensei," the lady interrupted me, say, isn't she from the same clan as Naomi-sensei? "Now guys, I want you to show Ai around until I meet up with you later," and Kurenai-san stormed off. I guess that's okay. At least I get to hang around Kiba-kun and Hinata-sama and get to know Shino.

"Ah, Kiba-kun, I must say, you're wilder than last time we met," I said.

"Ha! That's right and we've gotten stronger too, I bet I could beat Naruto with one technique and it's over for him," Kiba bragged.

"Naruto? Who's Naruto?" I asked.

"He's annoying and he's such a loser, though he was such a class clown back at the academy." That description was also familiar, could it be that lame guy that was dressed in blue and orange?

"Uh, does he wear orange and blue clothing? And has blond-hair Kiba-kun?" I asked hoping it would be a no.

"Yeah, how did you know that?" asked Kiba-kun.

"Well, I sort of intimidated him and the rest of his team. I think I over-did it a little bit because when I left, I saw him shiver." Kiba laughed as I told him the story, "I might have even intimidated that Sasuke guy!" So far Kiba and I were the only ones talking, Shino was keeping quiet, and when I mentioned that I scared Naruto, Hinata-sama sort of looked…sad? We walked towards the ramen place until we saw…Naruto.

We entered and Naruto looked around and faced me, he jumped in the air with his face stuffed with ramen. Kiba-kun and I chuckled while we saw the expression on his face.

"I-It's y-y-you, y-you're t-the girl from before!" Naruto exclaimed. I kept on chuckling!

"Don't worry! I'm not going to sneak up behind you this time, I promise, I'm only ever going to do that in battle, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" I exclaimed putting my arm around his neck and acted like Naomi-sensei. Hey wait a minute, where are my teammates and Naomi-sensei? I'm going to lose my patience soon if I don't find them!

"I heard the whole story! Ai-chan even told me you were shivering right before she left! Ha, ha, ha!" Kiba said and Naruto was pouting.

"Ai?" someone asked from behind me. I stopped laughing with Kiba-kun and turned around to see a little devil, Michiko!

"Michiko! Where the hell have you been? And where is everyone else dumb-Michiko?" I shouted in everyone's ears.

"Man, ugly-Ai, calm down, we were supposed to unpack our bags at a resort not far from here, your teammates are waiting for you." Michiko explained.

"Oh, sorry. I just got excited that I came back since it's a long time that I've seen my old friends," I said as I calmed down.

"So…" I was confused for a moment. What kind of a 'so' was that? Oh now I get it.

"Oh, the one over there is Aburame Shino." Shino was still quiet. "This is my close family-friend, Hyūga Hinata."

"I-It's n-nice t-to me-et you," Hinata said in a mutter.

"And finally this is my close and cool pal, Inuzuka Kiba! And everyone, this is my rival, dumb-Michiko." I said with more of an hyped up spirit. As I looked at Michiko, she was blushing? Wait, why is she blushing?

"Uh, dumb-Michiko, can I talk to you for a moment!" I exclaimed grabbing Michiko and began talking to her immediately in a corner. "Why are you blushing?"

"Huh? I'm blushing, what do you mean I'm blushing? What's blushing?" she came up with the lamest excuses.

"Don't play dumb with me!" I finally calmed down, "Is it true, you like Kiba-kun too?"

"What?"

"I'm asking you, do you like Kiba-kun?"

"…" And there were a few moments of silence.

"I guess, that means, in the Chūnin Exams, we're destined to fight each other." I said and gave her a smile. I haven't done that in a while, maybe it was more of a smirk and walked back to Kiba-kun and the rest.

"Hey, what was that all about?" Kiba-kun asked while we ordered some ramen and Naruto was still eating his, he even had a curious look on his face.

"Um, that was nothing, it's just that," I sighed and ate some ramen before answering, "it's just that, Michiko and I are competitive rivals and we never fail to beat each other in something. I warned her and I should warn all of you, especially you Naruto since you're eavesdropping," I said looking towards Naruto and he tried to hide his face, "that, since I want to fight her in the Chūnin Exams, and you battle me, you should be careful. Nothing is going to stop me from fighting her, I'm sure she wants to fight me as well." I ate some more ramen.

"But come one! It's not like I would any of you right?" I exclaimed happily, surprising everyone especially Naruto but except for Shino.

"Wow, Ai-chan. You've got to work on your timing." said Kiba. "You almost scared me there."

"Well you really should watch out because I've gotten stronger than someone who just argues for the fact that she's right, right?" I exclaimed and laughed, if Kouki or Isamu were here, then they would totally think I'm an exact replica of Naomi-sensei.

"Huh? Where's Naomi-sensei, Isamu and Kouki?" I blurted out loudly, "Whoops," I said noticing I flipped my ramen into the man's face who made the ramen.

"Who are Isamu, Kouki and Naomi?" Naruto asked.

"Uh, right, I forgot to mention, since I'm a Genin now, I'm in a team with two boys named Isamu and Kouki and a female ninja that is my sensei, her name is Naomi. If you ever meet her then you'd think I act just like her," I exclaimed.

"Great, another terrifying you," Naruto said sadly. I chuckled for a few moments.

"S-so where a-are t-they?" Hinata asked.

"I think you might have heard Michiko say it before, they were at a resort somewhere nearby."

"O-oh so y-you d-don't know w-where to g-go? I-I c-can show y-you around t-this area, I know i-it v-very well. It's close t-to the dojo, remember?"

"Oh yeah, the one I trained at non-stop just so I can learn Byakugan right?" and Hinata nodded.

We finished our ramen, though I had none left and went to the resort that Hinata was talking about.

"Thanks Hinata, you're a good friend. Do you guys want to come inside? I'm sure my teammates won't mind," I suggested. They all agreed except for Naruto who ran away like a scared chicken. Guess he must have been scared of the thought that Naomi-sensei was me.

**I know! Really, really, really long chapter! I'm sorry about that! Anyway, please review my story!**


	5. Rivals Amongst Us!

** Resort, Ai's room **

As me and my friends entered the resort and entered my room there was an immediate shout as Isamu and Kouki looked at me, "Where the hell have you been Ai? We've been waiting for you for 3 hours!"

They were shouting so loud! It was if my ears were going to bleed. It even terrified me how loud both of them were. They were scarier than me when I met Kakashi's students.

"I'm sorry guys-"

"SORRY? WE WERE THE ONES THAT UNPACKED YOUR BAGS FOR YOU AND YOU'RE SORRY THAT YOU'RE LATE?" The shouting was getting even louder! I was going to faint soon, especially Hinata.

"WOULD YOU GUYS SHUT IT FOR A MINUUUUTE!" I tried shouting even louder to try and stop the shouting. I even saw Isamu flinch a little bit, "Hinata's going to faint soon, so stop screaming your heads off and listen," I said and explained what happened while I was gone.

"Wow, you make me scared, is that supposed to be a real story or something?" Isamu asked as everyone sat down, "You're acting more like Naomi-sensei every day."

"I told you guys," I proved that my prediction was true, "So by the way, this is my family-friend Hyūga Hinata, this is my childhood friend, Inuzuka Kiba and his dog Akamaru and this is well, Aburame Shino and we just met," I introduced everyone.

Isamu wasn't satisfied by meeting Kiba neither did Kouki with Shino. It was more like a war going on, were me and Hinata the only ones who could stop this?

"Um, guys, can you stop the glaring?" I asked before they gave me a rude 'no!'

"P-please s-stop it Kiba-kun, Shino-kun," Hinata pleas. A few moments after, they stopped glaring at each other. What was wrong with them? It was as if they disliked each other even if they don't know one another.

"Come on Ai, don't hang around these losers." Isamu said.

"What did you say? I'm going to kick your butt soon." Kiba exclaimed immediately, growling. Kiba looked so angry, how much wilder has he gotten since the last time I saw him?

"Isamu, back off, we don't have time for this, we've already wasted 3 hours, Michiko's team have already started training." Kouki said.

"Whatever, just make sure _they_ don't get in my way." replied Isamu. Kiba started getting even fiercer. Why is it that they don't like each other? Oh no! Isamu was doing the hand signs! What is he going to do? I have to stop this!

"ISAMU! STOP IT NOW!" I yelled in the scariest way, "Learn to get along with each other or I'm going to have to kick all of your butts! So where is Naomi-sensei?" I threatened them. Isamu and Kouki flinched again before, "I'm right here!" someone exclaimed behind me and put their arm around my neck.

Naomi-sensei! No wonder Isamu and Kouki flinched.

"Hey Ai, you're acting more like me day by day." she said and gave me a 'keep it up' smile.

"Wow, Ai you are just like her. Is she as violent as you?" Kiba asked. And I gave him the exact smile Naomi-sensei gave me as I chuckled.

"Oh hello." Kurenai-san said politely as she stepped into our room, "I heard that all of my students were here. I have good news, oh!" she said and looked surprised as she saw Naomi-sensei.

"How long has it been since I last saw you, Kurenai?" Naomi-sensei asked. What? They know each other? Well they would since they were from the same clan.

"Six years, to be exact, on this very day," Kurenai replied. This very day?

"So, you up for the challenge of our students competing with each other?"

"Of course, I can see they're very tense right now. We'd better learn to get along. So, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, let's start training and I'll tell you the news. Bye Naomi." Kurenai said.

"Bye Ai, see you later," Kiba said before leaving.

"Oh no, you're not going to beat me Kurenai, let's go guys!" Naomi-sensei said before they both disappeared.

We _all_ left the resort and walked to the training grounds.

** Training Grounds **

We saw Kurenai-san and Naomi-sensei already at the Training Grounds. Wow they got here fast.

"Okay guys, let's get to work," Kurenai and Naomi-sensei said at the same time.

Kiba's team and my team trained together but I could still see the hatred in Isamu, Kouki and Kiba's eyes throughout the training. My team decided to try and not show our best considering it a surprise for the Exams.

"Alright, Team 8! I have news for you," I overheard Kurenai's conversation with Kiba, Hinata and Shino. "You will all be competing in the Chūnin Exams."

"Alright!" exclaimed Kiba. "Yahoo!"

… **7 days later …**

We trained until it was time…to go to the Chūnin Exams! We're finally walking in the pathway that leads to the doors of the first Exam. I can't wait!

I raced ahead of Isamu and Kouki as the door wasn't far away. 5 seconds later I was at the door that will make me become a Chūnin!

"Come one guys! I can't wait any longer hurry up!" I shouted at Isamu and Kouki as they were still walking and were a long distant.

"There's no need to rush." replied Kouki. They were finally at the door just like me, I opened the door and… what the?

There were so many people inside, I tried to keep my cool. So we're up for a challenge. I saw Kiba's team, Michiko's team and Gaara's team.

_Looks like Michiko isn't afraid of battling me after all_ I thought. She may have the guts, but she definitely didn't have the strength to surpass me.

I sat in a space somewhere between Kiba's team and Gaara's team and across from Michiko's team. It was only a few moments until someone else came in to the room: Sakura's team. I guess I should have a little fun before the Exam starts.

I saw Sakura hesitating again just like last time. Sweat was coming down her face.

**No one's POV**

As Sakura gulps and is surprised of how many people were competing in the Chūnin Exams, someone behind Sasuke grabbed him and exclaimed, "Sasuke-kun! You're late!"

All of them turn to look around and face a long, blond-haired girl. "I've been eagerly waiting for you ever since I heard I could see you for the first time in a long time."

"Get away from Sasuke-kun! You Ino-pig!" Sakura shouted angrily knowing that the blond was her rival.

"Oh my, it's you Sakura. Your forehead is wide and you're still ugly… as usual." the blond insulted Sakura.

"What did you say?" The blond stuck out her tongue and pulled down the bottom part of her eyelid.

**Info**

Yamanaka Ino.

She always fights with Sakura. Sakura's rival and a Sasuke freak.

**Back to the story**

"What, are you three going take this troublesome exam too?" a voice called from behind Ino. "Hey, it's the idiot trio." Naruto said noticing that all three of his old classmates back in the academy were there.

"Stop calling us that. How annoying." The pineapple head calmed himself down while a chubby boy was crunching on potato chips.

**Info**

Nara Shikamaru.

He always complains about everything and is lazy. A complaining idiot.

**Info**

Akamichi Chōji.

He's always eating something. Someone who can always eat whenever you turn to look at him.

**Back to the story**

"Yeah, found you all!" another voice called in front of them with a puppy on his head. "So I see that everyone is here." There was also a girl with violet eyes beside the boy on his left and a boy with glasses and a collar covering half of his face on the boy's right.

"Hello." the violet-eyed girl called out from behind. Naruto turned to face her but the violet-eyed girl blushed and tried to hide her face.

**Info**

Hyūga Hinata.

She's a weird girl that always looks away when Naruto looks at her. A shy girl with only a few words to say sometimes.

**Info**

Inuzuka Kiba and his dog, Akamaru.

Someone who would be more annoying but still stronger than Naruto. He's someone that can always fight about leadership.

**Info**

Aburame Shino.

Someone that Kiba can argue with over leadership. Well… a person that's quiet.

**Back to the story**

**Ai's POV**

_Well, well, well. Look who's here, the 9 rookies of the Leaf Village_ I thought, _now I'm ready to have some fun._

I watched the big scene happening at the door until a guy with grey hair cut the commotion.

_Idiots, all of them._

That grey-haired guy, _just had_ to warn all of them about the impression they made, I thought it was all funny.

Looks like I'll be disappearing for a moment before Sasuke tries to find out who I am.

… **A few moments later … **

"Alright here are Gaara of the Desert, Rock Lee and Hyūga Ai, first up, Rock Lee," the grey-haired man said spinning one of his cards. I appeared on the ceiling, eavesdropping.

**Name: Rock Lee**

**Age: 13**

**Mission Experience: 0 A-rank, 0 B-rank, 11 C-rank, 20 D-rank**

**Team: Hyūga Neji, Tenten and Might Gai**

Other: His taijutsu skills have increased dramatically this past year, but his other skills are terrible. He got everyone's attention last year as a skilled rookie Genin, but he didn't take the Chūnin Exam.

**Name: Gaara**

**Age: 12**

**Mission Experience: 0 A-rank, 1 B-rank, 8 C-rank,? D-rank**

**Team: Temari, Kankurō**

Other:

"It seems I don't have much information on him since he's a foreigner and this is the first time he took the exams. But there is one thing, he came back on all of his missions unharmed." Said that grey-haired man.

**Name: Hyūga Ai**

**Age: 12**

**Mission Experience: 0 A-rank, 0 B-rank, 0 C-rank, 11 D-rank**

**Team: Inuzuka Isamu, Aburame Kouki, Yūhi Naomi**

Other: A Suna kunoichi who had been training hard ever since she was ten. She has super-human strength like the Legendary Sannin: Tsunade.

She is Elder Chiyo's granddaughter of Sunagakure but many people disrespect and are scared of her because of her strength.

"And that's all I've got." He got out another card from his deck that had a map of the world.

"Konoha, Suna, Ame, Kusa, Taki, Oto." he said as bars came popping out of the card with the symbols. "This year, many talented Genin from the Hidden villages have come here to take the exam. The village of Sound is a village of a small country that was just made recently, so I don't have much information on them. Either way, all of them are powerful Hidden Villages."

Uh oh! Uchiha-lamo's got a very curious and scared look on his face. This is a great time to jump in.

"Well, well, well. So you some parts of my life now do you?" I asked appearing at front of the door.

"Oh!" everyone except Kiba and Shino gasped.

"So you see, I can move anywhere without a single sound. You must know me better now, shouldn't you Uchiha-lamo?" I asked appearing behind him like last time.

"Man, you're scary, just way too scary." Naruto said. I smirked; he must really think I'm a monster.

"Knock it off Ai, you shouldn't be messing around with them, even if you are stronger than them." I heard Michiko's voice from the centre of the room.

"Oh yeah? Let's see you try to stop me?" I shouted.

"Calm down Ai-chan," Kiba grabbed my arm before I could punch Michiko. She's really getting on my nerve; I would've knocked her out in one second flat.

"You just wait, I'm going to win." I said before calming down, "Baka gaki." I smirked.

She gave me a glare, this time it didn't scare me. I turned to the 9 rookies and then to the grey haired man, "What's your name again?" I asked.

"Yakushi Kabuto." the man replied.

_Interesting, _I thought. I finally saw Naruto shivering again.

"Hey, Naruto. You don't need to be that scared…" said Sakura before Naruto shouted, "AH! My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm not going to lose to any one of you! Got that?"

_He still isn't scared._

"Hey! What's with him?" Ino exclaimed in Sakura's ear. "What's the point in provoking everyone?"

"Don't ask me!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Who else am I supposed to ask?"

"What did you say?"

"That felt good!" said Naruto. I saw Kabuto and Sasuke smirk.

"What _was_ he doing?" I asked myself. I looked at everyone else in the room; they had a very intense face. I really didn't want to get involved in this.

"'I'm not going to lose to any of you' You talk big." said Kiba teasingly.

"You idiot. He just made everyone here our enemy." Shikamaru notified Naruto. What an idiot Naruto was, he was laughing until Sakura almost choked him with her arms.

Then I saw her notice everyone else looking at her and Naruto, now I _really_ don't want to be near them anymore. I appeared next to my teammates. That was better, not to get myself known.

I heard the slightest noise around the room, "Byakugan! What the?" I exclaimed as I saw chakra moving around the room, everywhere! They were too fast for me to keep up with. I saw one slowly landing, I dispelled my Byakugan and saw that the guy that was slowly landing threw darts at Kabuto! Kabuto jumped back and when he landed, he slid a few inches. Then a man with covering almost all of his face (except his left eye) landed right in front of Kabuto, they were this fast?

Under his sleeve was something like a weapon? He almost hit Kabuto but luckily Kabuto was fast enough to dodge. Wait! Did Kabuto really dodge the attack? The next thing, Kabuto's glasses broke into pieces!

"Oh, I get it, it was _that_ kind of attack," Kabuto said. What kind of attack? These Sound Villagers, look like they're really serious and dangerous. Wait, these are Sound Genin we're talking about, who knows what they could do.

"What's going on? You definitely dodged the attack how did your glass…" said Sasuke. He was clueless!

"It must have hit his nose. That's what happens when trying to act cool." commented Shikamaru.

"Byakugan!" I whispered. I saw it! Chakra is flowing near Kabuto! It looks like sound waves! My eyes widened as well as Kabuto in shock and gasped.

Kabuto fell down on his knees and coughed out blood. These guys are more dangerous, we have to be cautious if we fight them. Who knows what could happen to us?

"You're not as good as I thought for veteran who took the exam four years running." the bandaged-faced man that attack Kabuto said.

"Write this on your card. The three from the Hidden Sound Village will definitely become Chūnin." the guy who tried to hit Kabuto with darts said. And there was a smoke cloud at the front of the room.

"Quiet down you punks!" a man appearing out of the smoke shouted. There were also some ninja appearing behind him with the same uniform, "Sorry for the waiting. I will be the examiner for the first test of the Chūnin Selection Exam, Morino Ibiki. You three from the Otogakure don't think you can do whatever you want before the exam." Ibiki said pointing to the Sound Villagers, "You Do you want us to fail you already?"

"Sorry." the bandaged-face man said. "I'm excited since this is my first exam."

"This is a good chance to say this. You're not allowed to fight each other during the exam unless given permission by the examiners. Even if the permission is given, you are not allowed to kill each other. Pigs who go against me will fail immediately. Understood?"

"This exam seems so soft and easy." the ninja from the Sound replied.

"We will now begin the first exam of the Chūnin Selection Exam. Turn in your application, then take one of these number tags, and sit where the number tells you to. Then we will pass out the papers for the written exam." Ibiki explained.

My team handed ours over but we had different numbers to be seated at. I saw Isamu had 98, Kouki had 73 and what? I was 48! Now that was my least favourite number of all.

I saw my spot and sat down sighing until…! Kiba sat down next to me! Was Kiba really going to sit next to me? Is this another joke like last time?

"Oh, hey Ai-chan. Well looks like you're going to be sitting next to me, this is going to be better than I expected." said Kiba cheerfully. I guess I was happy too!

"Hai." I replied.

I looked around and spotted Michiko. I glared and then smirked. I stuck my tongue at her knowing that she was jealous because I got to sat next to Kiba, she had to sit next to Kankurō. I loved the position I'm in right now and slightly smirked while turning to the front.

The proctor tapped the chalk on the blackboard to get everyone's attention.

"This First Exam has a few important rules. I will not accept questions, so listen carefully.

First rule is you all are given 10 points at the start. The written exam consists of 10 questions, and each is worth one point. This test is a deduction based test. If you get one problem wrong. You will get one point deducted. If you get three problems wrong, your points will be reduced to 7.

Second Rule, the pass-fail decision will be determined by your team's total points."

"Wait a second! Your team's total points? What?" exclaimed Sakura.

_She must be so surprised, Naruto must be the dumbest person on the planet! Hahaha!_

"Shut up! There is a reason for this. Just shut up and listen. Now that you know, let's move on to the next rule.

If an examiner determines that you cheated or do something similar during the test each action will cause you to lose two points. In other words, there will be people who will be forced to leave this place without their tests being graded. Those who try to cheat without thinking carefully will only hurt themselves."

"We'll "check" you at any time." One of the examiners said.

"You're all trying to become Chūnins. If you are a ninja, act like a first-rated one. Also, if anyone in a team gets a zero, everyone on that team will fail. The last problem will be given 45 minutes after the exam begins. We have one hour for the exam." The clock was ticking, and it finally landed on the 12.

"Begin!"


	6. The First Exam

"Begin!"

I looked through the questions carefully. The questions didn't make any sense! Why would they give us questions that only a true Jōnin can answer? Is this another trick? There must be catch or something to this test, but what is it? Not even a Genin can answer these questions.

I saw some people answer the question perfectly! Are they really Genin? These questions are so complex; I don't even know where to start off. That's it I'm already losing my patience, I have to cheat, but those guys are watching our every movement. There's got to be a way to cheat without getting caught.

OH! Someone behind Naruto, a kunai knife was thrown on that person's test, "What is the meaning of this? he asked with a frightened face.

"You screwed up five times. You fail." The sentinel replied.

"What?" he asked himself quietly.

"Teammates of his, get out of here! Right now." Ibiki ordered. The man still had a frightened look. His teammates stood up looking sad. I bet they don't even want to look at him anymore.

"Number 23, fail. Number 43 and 27, fail!" the other sentinels announced.

A couple of more numbers and a sand-nin was the one who failed and he shouted, "Hey, man, do you have any proof that I cheated five times? Are you really able to watch over this many people?" _What an embarrassment._

A sentinel with a bandaged eye pushed the sand-nin to the wall, "Listen up. We are Chūnins that were chosen for this exam. Elites, so to say. We won't miss a single thing you do. My strength is the proof."

Whatever, that doesn't intimidate me. Now it's time to cheat.

"Byakugan!" I checked the people's answers around me, looks like Kiba is doing well, I think I'll have to look around the room more. I looked somewhere around two tables across me and someone didn't even answer a single question. Oh, it was Naruto; forget about him, he'll definitely fail.

Now let's see- Aha! Found the right answers. Now to copy them down, this is going to be easy. Who'd know what the answer's about, just as long as they're the right ones.

Great! I answered every single one of them, now to find out what the tenth problem is. Come one! I just want to get this written test over and done with I could be losing my patience anytime by now!

"Number 59, fail!" one of the sentinels called out.

"Numbers 33 and 9, fail!" another one announced. That was the thirteenth team they dismissed, if everyone keeps up with this, there'll be no one left in the Exams. Hopefully Michiko gets to stay.

"Number 41 fail!"

"Number 31 and 65, fail!" Only a few more minutes until the final question, this'd be exciting. I wonder if Kouki could answer these questions without cheating, he is the expert in our team. It's more like he gives me and Isamu quizzes like this every day, when we're training or on missions. Sometimes it makes sense… a little bit. He starts every sentence off with a question that could really help us.

"Alright. I will now give the tenth problem!" Ibiki said. Wait, where's Kankurō? I can see that Gaara and Temari are still here. "Yes, but," oh so now there's a but, how wonderful, ", before that, there's one thing I must say. There will be one special rule for this last question."

Oh man! More rules? What's with this guy and this test? The door opened and Kankurō stepped inside. Finally, I was getting worried.

"You're lucky. You're puppet show didn't have to go to waste." I saw Kankuro hesitate, what was wrong with him? Wait! There's another examiner? I smirked for a moment. It was probably his plan in cheating.

"Oh well, sit down." Ibiki ordered, "I will now explain. This is a hopeless rule. First, you are all going to choose if you wish to take this tenth problem or not."

"Choose? So what happens if we don't take the tenth problem? Temari called out. She has a point there, they wouldn't let us off the hook that easily.

"If you choose not to take it, our points will be reduced to zero. In other words, you will fail. Your two other teammates fail along with you." I heard a lot of whispers coming everywhere. They should be afraid of this rule, what's with this final question? Is it something we have to cheat on?

"And here is the other rule," Ibiki interrupted everyone's conversation, "If you choose to take it and you get it wrong, you will lose the privilege to take the Chūnin Exam forever!"

_How could that be?_

"What kind of dumb rule is that? Kiba shouted standing up, "There should be those here who have taken the Chūnin Exam in the past!" And Akamaru barked in agreement/back-up.

"That's right!" I exclaimed getting up as well, "So why are you suddenly doing it this time with us?"

"Sit down Ai." Someone from the other table said calmly. I turned around-Michiko! I decided this wasn't the time to be fighting.

"Whatever." I mumbled under my breath and refused to sit down. Ibiki laughed.

"You were unlucky. This year, I am the rule. That's why I gave you the option of quitting. Those who are not confident can choose to not take it, and take the exam next year or the year after that." He replied still laughing.

Alright, don't panic. But we only get one shot at this, if we get it wrong then we can never come back ever again.

"Let us begin. Those who will not be taking this tenth question, raise your hand. After we confirm your numbers, we will have you leave."

He's trying to intimidate us like the rules for the other nine questions.

A hand was raised next to Naruto, "I…I…I quit! I won't take it!" he exclaimed like a coward.

"Number 50, fail." The sentinel said. It almost sounded like Ibiki was full of shame or something. Or he's just doing his job as an examiner; hopefully the other examiners won't be like him.

"Number 130 and 111, you fail along with him."

"I'm sorry Gennai, Inaho. Damn it."

"Me too!" Someone else put their hand up. Even more people are walking out the doors than last time and even more people are leaving. This guy, he's intimidating us within our minds. He's torturing us, he's trying to do something. What is it? Even Naruto raised his hand.

Wait, Naruto? He's raising his hand? Oh man and I thought I could beat that Uchiha-gaki, it's just not fair. I didn't get to challenge him! And Naruto slammed his hand on the desk, "Screw you! I'm not going to run away! I'll take this problem! Even if I become a Genin forever, I'm going to become a Hokage no matter what anyway! And he stood up. "I'm not scared!"

Though, Naruto encouraged others to stay. Now people are going to get in my way. Damn Naruto! Well I'm just going to have to deal with it. And he sat back down with his arms crossed.

"I will ask one more time. This is the choice that will impact your life. If you want to quit, now is your chance." Ibiki said.

"I'm not going to take back my words. That's my 'way of the ninja.'" This time, no one was leaving. That inspiring speech, he's some kid alright, I'll give him that. There were 87 left. Way too much of us.

"Nice determination. For the first exam, everyone here…Passes!"

What? No way? Then where's the tenth question?

"Wait a second, what's the meaning of that? We pass already? What about the tenth question?" Sakura called out. Exactly.

"There was no such thing to begin with. Or you can call the two-choice question the tenth question." replied Ibiki.

"Hey!" someone called out. Temari, eh? "So what were those previous nine problems? It was all a waste!" Temari asked.

"No it's not. The nine problems accomplished their purpose. The purpose to test each individual's information gathering skills. First, this test's purpose lies in the first rule. Your pass-fail decision is based on the three person teams. B giving that idea, we have given you an unprecedented amount of pressure to try and not be a nuisance to your team. But these test problems cannot be solved by Genins. So, most of the people here must've come to the conclusion "I have to cheat to get points." In other words, this exam assumed that everyone was going to cheat. So we snuck in two Chūnins who knew the answers to be targets of cheating." I knew it!

"Ha ha ha! It was obvious. It would be weird not to notice it. Right, Hinata?" First of all, he actually is that stupid and second of all, why did he have to sit next to Hinata? Everyone knows she likes him, don't try to prove that he was right with him.

"But those who just cheated like a fool failed, of course. Why?" Ibiki said as he took off his bandana. I knew everyone had a quite shock at this, even me. His head, he had burn marks, scars, what he must have risked. "Information can have greater value than life at time, and in mission and battlefield Information is contested with lives of people. The information that an enemy gets after being noticed by a third person will not necessarily be accurate. Remember this. Getting incorrect information can cause great damage on your teammates and village. So, we made you all gather information in the form of cheating. We kicked out those were lacking in that field. That's what went on."

"But I still can't agree to that last question…" said Temari.

"But this tenth question was the main question of this First Exam."

"What do you mean?" Sakura demanded.

"Let me explain. The tenth question was a "take or not to take" choice. Needless to say, it was a painful two-choice problem. Those who did not take it failed with their teams. If you choose to take it, and you could not answer it your right to take the exam would have been taken away forever. It was a very insincere problem. How about this two-choice problem. Let's assume that you have become a Chūnin. Your mission is to capture a secret document. The number of enemy ninja, their abilities, and armaments are unknown. And there may be traps that the enemy have set up. Now, will you accept this mission or not? Just because your life and the lives of you teammates are in danger, are you able to avoid dangerous missions? The answer is…no. There are missions that carry heavy risks, but cannot be avoided. The ability to show your courage to your teammates when needed, and the ability to get through a bad situation. That is what we look for in a Chūnin, a squad leader. Those who cannot bet there fate in a critical situation, those who give up when given the chance because there is next year, and let their minds sway over an uncertain future… Fools who only carry a light determination like that have no right to become a Chūnin. That is what I believe. I am saying that you here who have chosen to take it gave the right answer for the difficult tenth question. You can deal with the difficulties you will face. You have broken through the entrance. The First Exam of the Chūnin Selection ends now. I wish you luck.

Woo Hoo! Finally the test is over! I'm ready for any other challenge that there is. After a moment of cheering, the window broke! And a large banner held by kunai opened up revealing a lady. She was really jumpy. Just like me and Naomi-sensei!

"Everybody, there's no time to be happy. I am the Second Examiner, Mitarashi Anko. Let's go to the next exam! Follow me!" she yelled. She was also loud, just like Naruto.

"Grasp the atmosphere."

_?_

"96? Ibiki, you let 32 teams pass? The First Exam must have been too soft." said Anko in disgust.

"It looks like there are a lot of excellent students this time." replied Ibiki.

"Oh well…I'm going to make more than half of the teams fail in the exam. I'm getting excited. I will explain the details tomorrow. We will go somewhere else, so ask your Jōnin sensei's about the rally point and time. That is all. Dismissed." She seems, creepy and mysterious. I like her!

**The Resort, Ai's room **

_I'm finally out of that prison, it seemed like forever in that place!_

"Hey, Isamu, Kouki. Don't you think Anko reminds you of Naomi-sensei?" I asked.

"Yeah, as well as you." Isamu replied. I like his comments.

Starting tomorrow, we're going to get serious!


	7. The Second Exam

** Some sort of Training Ground **

As most of the rookies looked into the training ground (which was most likely a forest) they were shocked and stared in awe. I couldn't believe so myself. It must be bigger on the inside, way bigger. It even had a chain to keep it closed.

"What is this place?" Naruto asked.

"This is where the Second Exam will take place. The 44th training area… also known as the Forest of Death. You will soon be able to experience why this place is called the Forest of Death." Anko explained. There was a sudden breeze. As Anko said, this test is going to get harder, harder than anyone can expect.

"Forest of Death?" Naruto stuttered. I know he's just going to chicken out at some point. But he's just way too stubborn to do that. He stuck out his butt and teased, "You will be able to experience why this place is called the Forest of Death. There's no point in trying to scare us like that! I'm not scared at all!"

"Really? You sure are energetic."

I saw Anko smile as I smirked at the thought. We both threw kunai at him. Anko threw hers at Naruto's left cheek and I threw mine on his right cheek. Anko and I then appeared at Naruto's side. I was on his right side turning my back towards him and Anko appeared behind, "Boys like you die the fastest." Said Anko. I smirked with my face to the ground. Looks like I'm not the only one that tries to intimidate him and Anko licked the blood off that came from Naruto's check, "After spilling out red blood I love all over the place…" Anko smiled. A grass ninja wrapped her tongue around mine and Anko's kunai and gave them back to us. Anko thought it was something else.

"Here's you knife." The grass-nin said in a sinister voice. She was… just like a snake.

"Thank you." Anko replied smiling, "But don't stand behind me like that. That is, unless you want to die young." She said as she got took her knife."

I snatched my knife back and the ninja pulled her tongue back in her mouth, "Well, I get itchy when I see blood. Also, my precious hair was cut, so I got a little excited."

Hinata said, "Naruto-kun…" The grass-nin walked back to her teammates. There's just something about her… that seems evil.

"It looks like there are a lot of hot-headed people here today. This is going to be interesting." Anko said. Anko and I walked back to our position and Anko explained what we had to do for this Stage, "Before we begin the Second Exam, I'm going to pass these out to everyone." She took out a whole stack of paper from her coat, "These are consent forms. Those taking this exam must sign these."

"Why?" asked Naruto. He still doesn't get anything.

"From here on, people will die. Therefore, we need people's consent before we continue. Otherwise, I'd be held responsible. Ha, ha, ha, ha!" Anko laughed. I heard a few whispers, "Now, I will begin the explanation of the Second Exam. To be concise, you will all go through an extreme survival match." Said Anko giving Naruto the forms. "First, I'll explain the training area's geographical features." she said showing us a map, "The 44th training area is a circular region surrounded by 44 locked gate entrances. There is a rover, a forest, and a tower in the middle. The tower is approximately 10 km away from the gates. Inside this limited space, you will have to go through certain survival program. The program consists of… Anko explained putting the map back in her coat, "A competition where anything goes over these scrolls." She showed us two scrolls, one black with a white centre and the other was white with a black centre.

"Scrolls?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes. The Scroll of Heaven and the Scroll of Earth. You will fight over these scrolls. 32 teams in total passed the First Exam. Half of these teams will get the Scroll of Heaven. The other half will get the Scroll of Earth. Each team will get one of these scrolls. Simply, you have to fight over these."

"And? What's needed to pass?"

"Bring the Scrolls of Heaven and Earth to the tower with your teammates."

"In other words, the 16 teams, or half the people here, that get their scroll stolen will fail." Sakura predicted.

"But it needs to be done within the time limit. This Second Exams has a limit of 120 hours. Or exactly five days."

"Five days?" Ino exclaimed.

"What about food?" Chōji asked. Does that _always_ think about food?

"Scrounge it up yourself. The forest is a treasure box of nature. There should be plenty of food."

"However," Kabuto said, "There are a lot of man-eating beasts, poison bugs and poisonous plants."

"Oh no…" Chōji exclaimed disappointed.

"Stupid, that's why it's called a survival." Ino said.

"Also," Neji began talking, ", it is not possible for 17 teams, or 51 people, to pass."

"As time passes," Lee said after Neji, ", you will be required to move more. So the time to rest your body will become shorter. This seems quite rough."

"And we're surrounded by enemies. We won't be able to sleep in peace." Sasuke said.

"And if an enemy really _does_ come, we have to fight until one wins and one loses, we may risk our lives for it." I said.

"People will get hurt in the process of fighting over a scroll, and those who cannot bear this program's strictness will emerge, as well." Anko notified us.

"Excuse me, can we quit in between?" Shikamaru said.

"As a rule, you are not allowed to give up during the exam. You will spend the five days in the forest. While we're on topic, here are the conditions that will fail you.

First, a team that cannot bring both scrolls to the tower with the three teammates will fail.

Second, a team that loses a teammate or produces a unrecoverable teammate will fail. Also, just a note, you are not allowed to look inside the scrolls until you reach the tower. If you become a Chūnin, you will be able handling top secret documents. It's to determine your reliability. That's it for the explanation. We will exchange three consent forms for one scroll at that hut. And after picking your gate entrance, everyone will begin at the same time. Here's a last piece of advice. Don't die!" Anko exclaimed.

I sighed. _'So, this seems to be like the last test. Stealing information and you may have to risk your life for it. First of all, you don't know which scroll the other team has and second of all, we don't know which member of their team has the scroll. We have to be careful, we could end up fighting someone who has the same scroll and fight the wrong team member,'_ I thought.

I sat on a branch up high in a tree. I was filling out the consent form until I saw a girl with blond hair and a girl with pink hair. Oh, it's just the embarrassments, Ino and Sakura. I saw them fight.

"Oh my, it's you, 'shiny wide-forehead' girl. I thought you went home. I didn't expect you to be here." Ino said teasingly.

"Oh my, it's you Ino-pig girl. I have to go on a survival mission with Sasuke-kun for five days. There's no way I would go home." Sakura laughed bragging.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" I laughed, hurting my stomach and jumped off the branch, "Who'd want to spend five days with that Uchiha-gaki." I finally calmed myself down, "

"Well, it isn't my fault if he thinks you're just too ugly to hang around. Whoops! Look who caused me to say that, yeah, it was you and your short hair that's not even mid-length." Ino said. I smirked.

"The only one to say that is Michiko. Look, let me warn you like I warned her and Naruto. You don't want to mess with me, nothing's going to scare me as long as Michiko and I fight and surpass one another. It would be impossible for you to survive knowing my true strength." I said.

"Oh yeah? Then show us your real strength!" Ino demanded. This girl… was almost the exact opposite of Sakura. She's even more annoying than that Uchiha-gaki.

"I'll use not even half of my chakra once we get inside. That is… if you have the scroll that we want. Bye, I'm going to get my team's scroll now."

I walked to the tent and saw Isamu and Kouki waiting for me. We got our scroll, the heaven scroll. "So, who's taking the scroll?" Kouki asked.

"I will." I said immediately. Isamu and Kouki stared at me for a moment, "It would only be fair for our team, if I did less attacking. My strength is too powerful, if anyone gets close to me, I'll be able to move fast enough. Plus, I don't want to get my strength known while Kabuto collects more information about me." They thought about it for a while. They nodded and gave me the heaven scroll. I put the scroll in my mini-bag. We headed to a gate with the number '7' on it. We waited with a sentinel in front of us. The clock was ticking. And it finally landed on the '12'.

"We will now begin the Chūnin Selection Second Exam!" I heard Anko shout.

We ran in quickly. We decided to run into the forest about 1 kilometre before stopping. I'm going to imagine that, a strong enemy is going to approach us.

After 5 minutes we were already 1 kilometre in. I heard a horrifying scream. It must be Gaara, or Kiba. They're fast, we should get started. "Alright guys. By the looks of it, we've already wasted five minutes. Let's get started. Byakugan!" I started searching. Some familiar chakra networks are coming by. They were all, Michiko, Ayumu, Shun, Manami, Kaoru, Hiroshi, Sayuri, Shou and Ryou. My old classmates from the academy.

"Well, look who we have here. We're all back together again. Hiroshi asked with his light brown eyes shot at me.

"Academy days were fun, we didn't have to do this much work. You felt so comfortable. Right Sayuri?" I replied looking towards Sayuri. She was one of those sassy girls from the bottom of her heart.

"Oh honey, it's true. Although, I like showing off sometimes. It wouldn't be a problem if I had to go through trouble like what Chūnin have to go through, sugar." Sayuri replied. That accent made me smirk all the time, it was more like she acted like she was the boss and could talk to me in an annoying way. I saw, a chip on the ground? That Ino girl must be here with that Chōji and Shikamaru guy. I guess they're here somewhere nearby. They were dumb to leave clues on the ground.

"Let's go, Isamu, Kouki." I said just about to leave.

"Just you wait Ai. We haven't forgiven you for what you have done." Kaoru said.

"Let's deal with you now." Ryou said. The cool boy with the looks. Every girl that laid eyes on him, would just faint. Every girl except for Michiko, Manami, Sayuri and I.

"So, are we going to keep on talking or is there going to be a fight?" Michiko asked grabbing a kunai out of her kunai pocket. We all slowly got out a kunai or a weapon, one by one except me.

"Let's get this battle started, hey, Ino, Shikamaru, Chōji, you might want to run away or else… let me put it this way. You. Don't. Want. To. Know. Because… it's going to get ugly here. Byakugan!" I warned Ino's team before we immediately started attacking each other.

I attacked Shun, Michiko attacked Ryou, Manami attacked Isamu, Sayuri attacked Kaoru, Kouki attacked Ayumu and Hiroshi attacked Shou. There were sounds of knives being lashed at each other as all of us defended while we offended. Us girls were at an advantage for our swift acts though the boys had a sharp eye and saw where we were.

After ten minutes of non-stop fighting. We landed on a branch and started using our ninjutsu. Tough, when it came to ninjutsu, the other eleven, weren't very good, they were still in the basics of ninjutsu. It was time to _finally_ use my empty black bag. I could hear the zipper close to my ear, slowly opening until, I made almost 54 hand signs. Guess what this jutsu is called? "Water Release: Water dragon jutsu!" I exclaimed.

Everyone tried dodging. Although, some of them almost got swept away. "Impressive Ai, you've really gotten stronger huh?" Kaoru asked.

"We would've died if you hadn't gone easy on us with that technique." Ryou said.

"Alright enough of the ninjutsu!" Manami demanded. Seeing how powerful my technique was I'm assuming they're scared of me already.

"Alright give it up, give us your scroll!" Shou exclaimed.

_Psht, must be jumping to the conclusion already. That's no fun at all._

"No way! You're going to have to fight for it first!" Shun exclaimed back.

"Alright! Listen up!" I exclaimed trying to get everyone's attention. They stopped and looked straight at me, "The only way, one of us is going to win, is in the last stage of the Chūnin Exams. So I say, we meet everyone back at the tower with both scrolls. Then that way, we'll be able to fight each other one on one!" They all agreed moments after and we all split up. Isamu, Kouki and I decided to go another one kilometre and stop.

_All_ of us hadn't got a single scratch on us as well as use up ¼ of our chakra. I saw it with my own eyes when we all left. Not a single scratch on _any_ of us. Everyone else… had better watch out.

We wasted five minutes traveling one kilometre, almost 30 minutes battling and another five minutes traveling. We've already wasted almost forty minutes in here. We have to find a team with the earth scroll.

We saw some guys with hats. They had four lines vertically carved on their forehead protector. They must be from the Hidden Waterfall Village. They look sort of weak. Well, they'll have to do.

"Isamu, Kouki, let's finish these guys off and head off to the tower." I demanded.

"Hai!" Isamu and Kouki started attacking, they were at an advantage, though they were showing too much of their true strength. "Take it easy guys! We don't want to waste time on them, just get it over and done with!" I warned both of them.

"Hai!" they exclaimed. I had an idea, a threatening one, "Isamu, Kouki, leave this to me! Now, let's have some fun ah!" I exclaimed punching the ground and making the whole battle field crack. "Now, you guys hand over your scroll or else, you become like the ground!" I threatened them. I saw them smile; a fake smile.

"Sure, yeah right. You aren't scaring us! You'll have to fight for it!" The tallest of them exclaimed. He asked for it.

"Byakugan!" I could see that the tallest one had the earth scroll. Just what we need! "Isamu, Kouki! I'll take care of this guy, you distract the others! Ah!" I commanded as I broke a branch that the tallest one was standing on. He jumped to another tree branch. I don't have time for this, we need to get to the tower, and fast, "Gentle Fist!" I pushed him with the palm of my hand and he fell to the ground. He must be weak by now.

I landed next to him and took the scroll. What a disappointment, we didn't have much fun. "You see, Ai's just way too powerful for even a Chūnin to compete with. Even if she flicks you, you could crash into a tree about three metres from your normal position. No one can even match up to her ninjutsu." Isamu explained. "Even her Byakugan can see over three kilometres away." Kouki followed. "And you can't even touch me. I'm just way too fast, I could appear anywhere in the forest in a blink of an eye. Isamu, Kouki, let's go!" I demanded and we headed towards the tower. By now we should only take forty minutes to get to the tower. That means that we'll finish this test on the first day, to be precise one hour and twenty minutes.

** Tower **

"Well, we finally made it, and we're lucky. It's getting dark." Isamu said. We walked around the tower more until we saw… Gaara! It's more like I feared him more than anything. I can't forget what happened in the forest when we were on our way to the tower.

**Flashback**

We jumped from tree to tree, from branch to branch. Until we saw Gaara! He was fighting with some rain-nin. At that moment when I first spotted him, when I landed on a branch…!

"Desert Funeral!" Gaara killed the rain-nin! It was more like he _wanted_ to do that no matter what. The whole area was covered in blood.

"Here just take the scroll, please spare us!" one of the rain-nin's partner pleas while placing a heaven scroll on the ground. After that… Gaara covered the other shinobi with sand! I know he's going to kill them. I covered my ears and shut my eyes. I just didn't want to hear their pain and terror! Gaara… could soon kill all he wanted and even Temari and Kankurō. I wanted to leave, I didn't want to Gaara like that anymore, I just want to run away!

And I did. I ran off into the tower's direction before I could see any more with tears streaming down my cheeks.

**End Flashback**

I hid behind a wall and my team walked the other direction. I sighed. Ever since that memory occurred, I didn't want to encounter Gaara unless it was necessary.

While we were walking the other direction my team walked past Kiba's team. We walked slowly. I could see that Kiba, Shino, Isamu and Kouki were getting tense again. Looks like they finished the test before we did.

We sat across from them, I had my right leg cross over my left leg. Man, waiting another four days for other teams to arrive would be so boring.


	8. Preliminary Matches  Part 1

… **4 days later …**

** Tower **

"First of all. Congratulations on passing the second exam!" Anko shouted. We were in a room with the Hokage, everyone's instructor and the examiners with a statue of a hand sign. It was a big room with stands on the sides. I'm guessing that a lot of people passed. I didn't expect for so many other teams to pass as well.

"We will now have an explanation of the Third Exam from Hokage-sama." Anko shouted once again as the Hokage stepped forward.

"The Third Exam will begin. But before the explanation, there's one thing I want to make clear to all of you. It's about the true purpose of this exam." The Hokage said but a man appeared right in front of the Hokage.

"Excuse me, Hokage-sama. I, Gekkou Hayate, the judge, will explain." The man said. The Hokage nodded and the man turned around to face us.

"Everyone, it's nice to meet you. Everyone, before the Third Exam *cough* There's something I want you to do…*cough* Fight in some preliminary matches to see who gets to advance the Third Exam's battle." The man said.

"Preliminary matches? What do you mean?" Shikamaru exclaimed.

"Sensei, I don't understand what you mean by preliminary matches. Why can't we just start the Third Exam with the remaining examinees?" Sakura asked.

"In this case, it must have been because the First and Second Exam were too easy, I don't know, but there are too many examinees left. According to Chūnin regulations, we must decrease the number of participants for the Third Exam." The man explained.

"Oh, no!"

"As previously mentioned by Hokage-sama, there are many guests for the Third Exam, so we cannot just have a lot of matches. We are limited on time, as well. So, those who aren't feeling well *cough* Excuse me. If anyone wants to quit after hearing the explanation, please let me know. The preliminary matches will begin immediately."

"Immediately?" Kiba called out.

"But we just got through the Second Exam…"Ino said in exhaustion.

"How troublesome." Shikamaru said in a lazy tone.

"I forgot to mention this, but you will have one-on-one matches from here on out. So please withdraw if you wish." We waited; I heard whispering between Sakura and Sasuke. It looked like… Sakura was… crying. I saw her about to put her hand up until-Kabuto raised his hand! That information guy is quitting? Well, looks like he won't be getting more information on me that's for sure.

"I'll quit." said Kabuto… smiling? This guy doesn't make sense.

"Let's see… You are Konoha's Yakushi Kabuto-kun? You may leave then." said the examiner. And he left with that.

"Kabuto-san, why are you quitting? Why?" Man, Naruto just doesn't get it does he.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but my body is completely worn out already. Even before the First Exam, after I had that quarrel with the Sound guys, I couldn't hear anything in my left ear. I can't fight right away, especially if it's a life or death battle…" As Kabuto left, I saw him mutter something under his breath to one of his teammates. Looks like everyone else is staying.

_This is going to be fun_ I thought. A screen came out of the wall behind the statue of the hand sign.

"Then, let's begin the preliminary matches. It will be a one-on-one match. In other words, it will be like real combat. Now that we have exactly 30 people, we will have 15 matches and the winners will be able to advance to the Third Exam. There are no rules. You will fight until the other person dies, is knocked out or admits defeat. If you do not want to die, please give up immediately. However, if I judge that match is over *cough* I may stop you to prevent any unnecessary deaths. The thin that will hold your destiny… will be this. This electric bulletin board, will randomly display the names of the two fighters for each match. Without further do, I will now display the names for the first match." Hayate explained.

We stood there watching the screen as names were coming by until the names were chosen.

**Akadō Yoroi**

**Vs.**

**Uchiha Sasuke**

Aw man! That Uchiha-gaki gets to go first! Damn it! "Those whose names were displayed, step up. The first match's fighters are Akadō Yoroi and Uchiha Sasuke. Are there any objections?" Hayate asked.

"No." replied Sasuke.

"No." replied Yoroi.

"We will now begin the first match. Everyone other than the two fighters, please move up there." Hayate commanded.

We walked slowly. I walked to the left stand. Alongside Kiba's team, my team and Naomi-sensei. Everyone was staring at the two of them. This may be quite a battle.

**Akadō Yoroi vs. Uchiha Sasuke**

_Tsk. What a pathetic little battle. What such weaklings. They're even slower than I expected. What losers, that Uchiha-gaki isn't even worth fighting. _I thought.

"Ai, are you sure you want to fight this guy? He seems pretty weak and that's from an Uchiha." asked Isamu. My face was disgusted by now and then I smirked. "Whatever, I've changed my mind about this stupid kid." I replied.

Soon, I realized they in the air. What was wrong with him? He's acting weird. Soon, I realised the match was over. For being so long with that match they should've beaten each other-Konoha's Fang!

_Him, he's… he's the one that killed my parents, he's Konoha's White Fang. No wait, Grandma Chiyo told me the White Fang was already dead. But this guy, he would've been the spitting image of him. I know it._

I looked down to see him right down there and took Sasuke out of the building. "Hey, Ai, are you okay?" asked Isamu. I was breathing slightly heavier. "I…I'm okay."

Hayate stepped forward and said, "Now, we will begin the next match." We looked at the screen again.

**Zaku Abumi**

**Vs.**

**Aburame Shino**

"Fighters, step up." said Hayate. Shino-kun is up. I wonder how this match will be like.

"Will Shino-kun be alright?" asked Hinata. "Yeah, he's strong." said Kiba-kun. "I don't want to fight him either." What did he just say? Not fight him, Kiba-kun's like a wild animal. But this time… this guy must be stronger than I thought.

**Zaku Abumi vs. Aburame Shino**

_Bugs? What the? But- wait. Kouki's from Shino's clan, isn't he? How come he doesn't have bugs like him?_

There were more coming from begin Abumi.

I wasn't interested in this match. Meh, the bugs though. If Kouki and Shino-kun were from the same clan, how could Kouki not have bugs as well? Why is that?

Wait a minute! Why… that guy's arms were hurting, he was screaming in pain. What just happened? He looked at his hands. Bugs? Shino-kun was behind him now. My eyes widened in shock. Was Shino-kun, really all that strong?

_What…what are those bugs? _

I looked closer… his arms were filled with holes. What exactly did Shino-kun do? This isn't the time to be so afraid.

The match ended with Shino-kun being the victor. There's only one way to find out what those bugs are. "Byakugan!" I said and looked into Shino-kun's body.

_Bugs! Living inside his body! But, Kouki doesn't have any._

"Kouki…" I said. Kouki looked away, with a somewhat sad face. I was anxious. But this wasn't like me. No, I should stop now. I saw Shino-kun coming. "Shino-kun, good job…" said Hinata. "Good job." said Kiba-kun. "Yes, I expect you guys to do the same." replied Shino-kun. Eh? Um… okay…

"I would like to move on to the next match." said Hayate. Just then, I saw that weird guy that looked the White Fang. But no Uchiha-gaki.

**Hyūga Ai**

**Vs.**

**Shun**

I smirked. "Shun, eh? Now, it's all about to get exciting."

**Ai's match, in the next chapter! Can't wait to start on it! So, please review, and I'll draw you something, literally, I can draw stuff.**


	9. Preliminary Matches Part 2: Mysteries

Recap: I smirked. "Shun, eh? Now, it's all about to get exciting."

I jumped down to the battle arena and went into the centre. I might've done that a little too quickly though. "Alright, get down here." I said. Shun jumped down and I crossed my arms as he walked closer towards me. "Alright, so, are there any objections?" Hayate asked us. I pulled an Anko-like face.

"Hmph, do you think anyone would object?" I asked.

"No way." said Shun.

"Okay then, begin."

We jumped back quickly. I crossed my arms. "Hurry up and get here, you idiot. Otherwise, I'm just going to have to go to you." I disappeared and appeared behind Shun standing on my right arm and kicked behind Shun to go all the way across the room. "I'm not done yet!" I shouted, when he was just about to touch the wall, I appeared in front of him and kicked him the other way again.

"You idiot! You're nothing but a lame excuse for a shinobi!" When he was in the centre of the room I kicked him to the floor and he spat out blood. I looked at him with a disgusted face. "Hah! Already unconscious? You're not so tough now, are ya? Get up already!"

He slowly got up, I appeared in front of him and flicked his forehead, guess what happened next? BOOM! He crashed into the wall, no, I let him crash into the wall.

He fell to the floor and Hayate had announced me as the victor. "That's what you get, if you can't fight… hmph, what a weakling." I said before jumping back up to my teammates, they were silent. I saw Kiba-kun walking towards me. "Uh… Ai-chan…" He looked at me, as if I was that much scarier. I could tell by looking into his eyes. "Wow, she is just way too scary, like that snake lady." I heard Naruto say, just a little too loudly.

I looked back to the screen.

**Ryou**

**Vs.**

**Shou**

Those two? Meh, just one stupid battle. They were weak, not even interested, too slow. Whatever. Ryou was the victor in the end, he looked beat up when he went over to his teammates again.

… **skip Kankurō ****vs. Trusurgu Misumi, Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino and Temari vs. Tenten…**

Temari and Tenten's battle was interesting. I looked at the screen for the next match.

**Michiko**

**Vs.**

**Hiroshi**

So, Michiko's up next? I smirked, she still isn't up to my level. "Begin." Hayate said.

The battle begin, swift movements, pretty good battle skills, I examined Michiko's fighting skills. They would've been as good as mine, in 20 years or so. I looked at Michiko for one second, I smirked. I figured out what she was doing. "She's holding back now, eh? It'll be interesting in the last part of the exams…" I said. My teammates looked at me in surprise. "You mean…"

"Yeah, you know what I mean… she's much stronger than all of us…" I said under my breath, but I knew my teammates heard what I said anyway. "…well except for me, of course!" I said cheerfully and a big grin.

The match ended up almost as a draw, until Michiko slowly got up. I knew she wouldn't back down, that's what a rival does. They never disappoint you.

Hiroshi was sent to the infirmary and Michiko walked up the stairs to her teammates. "She is one mysterious rival…" I whispered.

"Except, you're even more mysterious." Isamu said, he must've heard me.

"Of course! No one can beat me at anything!" I said cheerfully again. Some people around me sweat dropped.

… **skip Nara Shikamaru vs. Kin Tsuchi …**

That Shikamaru guy seems pretty smart, too bad he's so lazy all the time. I looked at the screen for the next match.

**Uzumaki Naruto**

**Vs.**

**Inuzuka Kiba**

"Kiba-kun." I said smiling as I turned his way. "Yeah, we got lucky! We can win against him for sure, Akamaru!" exclaimed Kiba-kun. Akamaru barked in agreement.

At first they were fooling around. "Naruto! Don't lose to that guy!" shouted Sakura. "Shut up, you fool!" I shouted at her. She turned around to face me with an angry face.

"Then make me!"

"Frikin' hell, I will make you shut up in a second, and you won't be able to see it coming, so I say you just shut the hell up for a moment…" I said with an angry voice.

"O-o… okay then…"

"Oi! Kiba-kun!" I shouted turning to him. He looked at me with a blank face. I mouthed the words 'Good Luck' he grinned and the match started.

Just after one hit in the stomach, Naruto was already down. "Idiot, what a fool." I muttered. Kiba-kun walked away, until Naruto got up again. Kiba-kun definitely had the upper-hand with the smoke bombs.

Wait! Akamaru bit Kiba-kun! My eyes widened. No- Naruto! "Fool!" I shouted. Naruto transformed into himself again. Looks like I underestimated Naruto, but still, he's not even close to becoming a Chūnin. Kiba-kun calmed himself down.

He threw a food pill into Akamaru's mouth. His fur was turning red, Kiba-kun ate one as well. Akamaru got on Kiba-kun's back. "Beast Mimicry Ninja Technique: Half-Beast Clone!" shouted Kiba-kun.

Akamaru transformed into another clone of him. They were like beasts now. "Byakugan!" I said, and saw Kiba-kun's chakra network, his chakra was increasing. Just like what food pills do. I dispelled it and continued looking at the match. "Four Legged Technique!"

He was getting faster and faster, Naruto couldn't keep up with him.

_Kiba-kun… just how wild have you become ever since I left..?_ I thought to myself. Although… we were just still kids back then. We barely knew anything. He was somewhat kinder before, now he's more fierce.

Naruto went into the air, he tried dodging. Kiba-kun still had an advantage. "Take this! Half-Beast Master Combat Move! Double Piercing Fang!" He fell to the floor coughing out blood.

He got up again, what a fool. He can never go against Kiba-kun. Akamaru and Kiba-kun used the same trick with the smoke bombs. I couldn't see anything. I saw Sakura praying with hope, well all that hope will be all gone and crushed when this is over.

And out came of the smoke were three Kiba-kun's. He's part of the Inuzuka clan-that reminds me!

I grabbed Isamu and covered his mouth. We appeared in another room. "Ah! Oh, Ai-sama. Why'd you do-"

"Why is Kouki part of the Aburame clan and not have bugs in him like Shino-kun, and why are you part of the Inuzuka clan and not have a nin-dog like Kiba-kun?" He looked away from me, with the most emotional face I've ever seen him have. "It's… no, it's nothing…" I grabbed his shirt instantly and made him look me in the eye.

"Tell me."

"… Ai-"

"Tell me!" I felt a tear shed. I gasped and wiped it away immediately. "…Let's go then."

"But Ai-"

"Hurry up! Whatever, then I'll do it for you." I said before I covered his mouth and we appeared next to our teammates again. Looks like Kiba-kun's fight ended. "Kiba-kun!" I shouted and ran over to him. "I swear! I didn't do anything! Just don't hurt me!" I heard Naruto shout. I sweat dropped, and forgot about him and carried on over to Kiba-kun.

"S-sorry to make you worry there, Ai-chan."

"… you idiot…" I smiled at him. It felt like I smiled at him for days in that position.

"What are you guys… doing?" I heard Naruto ask us.

"Nothing, now do you want to get hurt? Then stay out of it!" He went to the infirmary, but on the way, I saw Hinata-sama talking to Kiba-kun. What's she up to now?

I saw her eyes widening when she looked at the screen. I turned to look around and spotted the most familiar names listed on there.

They were…

**Sorry that this was a bit short! I'll put the rest of the matches in the next one! Anyway... one mysterious battle in the next one. Oooh, cliffhanger! :P I just love doing that. Anyway, I put a poll on my page to see who likes which couple the most matched up with Ai! Please Vote! if you review and vote, I'll write more and I'll give you any food in the world(world, world, world, world...)**


	10. Preliminary Matches Part 3: A Hyuga rant

Hey there guys! Sorry if I made this chapter a little too long. You can skip most of the fighting, I just want you to read the emotional parts. And if you remember reading chapter 3, as I said, some parts are going to be revealed in later chapters, this is one of them.

**But just before the chapter starts, I want to say, if you don't vote on the poll or give me reviews, then I won't give you more chapters! And I won't finish the story! So vote and review, otherwise I won't do any more of this story! I want at least 15 votes, then I will tell you the results so far, and I want 20 reviews or else I won't continue!**

Anyways, Enjoy!

Recap: They were…

**Hyūga Hinata**

**Vs.**

**Hyūga Neji**

My eyes widened as well. I couldn't believe what just happened. I starred at the screen board making it feel like I was staring at it for hours.

I don't know how Neji-kun is now, but I'm sure he's gotten a lot more serious. He's probably going strict on Hinata-sama now. I was barely able to move. I wasn't even able to breathe properly.

I took in a deep breath before I went back to my teammates. I looked down at the arena. They were talking, Neji-kun told Hinata-sama to give up.

_Neji-kun… are you pulling some kind of joke? Have you become different, or are you really serious about killing her?_

I sweated a little and gulped. This wasn't like me. No, it's because… Neji-kun… has changed…

Hinata-sama started having fear in her eyes. I knew it, Neji-kun is frightening her. She's becoming more fearful as Neji-kun is speaking. He used the Hyūga hand sign. "Byakugan!" he exclaimed.

Neji-kun looked right at Hinata-sama in the face with his Byakugan. Hinata-sama looked like she was suffering or something like that. Hinata-sama looked into the upper left corner of her eye and then looked down to the lower right. Neji-kun kept glaring at her and she turned away. I can tell that she was thinking about fighting or not, Neji-kun is seriously frightening, even on my opinion he is.

As he kept telling her what she was thinking, she started breathing heavily until Naruto shouted something. It just reminded me of how annoying he was. Hinata-sama lowered her head. She was making the Hyūga clan hand signs to activate-

_Wait a minute, don't tell me she's seriously thinking-_

"Byakugan!" she exclaimed.

_She… was…_

I gripped the bar handle. They went into the Hyūga stance. I activated my Byakugan.

The started attacking. I looked at them, I kept sweating in hope that they will both be okay. Hinata-sama almost made a direct hit on Neji-kun. They stopped for a while and just went around in circles, although I can tell that Hinata-sama was getting hurt. Once again they attacked, they almost hit each other.

It looked as if Hinata-sama had the upper hand… but… she coughed out blood. She move his hand away and almost hit him again but he moved just in time, grabbed her arm and stopped one of the chakra holes. He pushed her back and she fell to the floor.

Some blood fell out of her mouth and she slowly got back up again. I tightened my grip on the bar. She looked at Naruto then they both activated their Byakugan again. Hinata-sama coughed out more blood. I looked at Gaara-sama, he looked so worried. If she got hit just one more time she could…

"Stop it!" I cried as I interrupted the match. I lifted my leg up to the bar and put my foot on top of it then lowered my head a little. Neji-kun looked at me. "Stop it… both of you just stop it… Neji-kun… Hinata-sama…" I said as I felt tears running down my face. "Don't fight anymore… Hinata-sama you've suffered so much already… you don't have to fight… you're already strong enough you don't have to suffer to become stronger… just… Hinata-sama, Neji-kun…" Tears fell to the floor. "JUST STOP IT!" I cried even louder lifting up my head showing the tears and looking at Neji-kun.

I heard everyone was surprised. Neji-kun widened his eyes a little and then just gazed at me. He turned around and looked back at Hinata-sama. "Surely, Ai-san, you have suffered no different than I have." Neji-kun said. I widened my eyes in shock.

Was it true? I-I-I suffered the same way… as he had? I looked away and they carried on with the match. I was still looking away and then slowly turned my head back to the arena. I saw that Hinata-sama had missed and Neji-kun wacked her under the chin.

She ran towards him again with her eyes full of determination. I've never seen her like this before. She is about to hit Neji- I gasped.

_N-N-N-Neji-kun… hit Hinata-sama… full on in the stomach…_

I widened my eyes. I saw most of the chakra holes from her stomach were pushed out by him. She coughed out blood before she fell down to the floor.

Just a few moments of not breathing…- she got back up! She slowly got back up again but stumbled a little. She told him that he was suffering more than she was. Neji-kun charged at her! "Neji…" I whispered. I quickly went in front of him as some other Jōnin stopped him. "…-kun…" I slowly put a hand on his shoulder…. And smiled! But… why am I? It wasn't a big smile like the one Naruto has. But, just one that says, "… I'm suffering too…" But from what?

Hinata started coughing up more blood. Kurenai-san went to help her, Lee-kun, Sakura and Naruto ran to her as well. Although, Naruto was a stubborn, annoying and loud little kid, I knew at that moment when Hinata-sama was unconscious, he cared for her. I smiled a little as I looked towards them both. It must've been a true moment for Hinata-sama, of course I know she likes him, how could it _not_ be obvious?

Soon the medical team came and took her away. It was truly sad just seeing her go like that. That match seemed like forever… moving on!

Hayate coughed and said, "We will now resume the matches." We all looked at the board. The names weren't even picked out yet, and Gaara-sama was already down at the centre of the arena. The names appeared on the board.

**Gaara**

**Vs.**

**Rock Lee**

_Gaara-sama… he… he won't be crazy this time… right? Of course not, maybe… maybe that person wasn't Gaara, the one we saw killing some rain-nin violently… right?_

Lee-kun went down to the arena… quite loudly, but Gaara-sama still had a straight face. "Now let the match… begin!" Hayate announced.

It looked already like Gaara-sama had the advantage. Of course, no one can beat Gaara-sama's techniques. He didn't even have to move an inch and it looked like he was undefeatable. "Is that it? Let me enjoy this a little more… there isn't enough… blood." said Gaara-sama.

So it must've been him after all. Lee-kun got tossed around like a toy. Ha! After a while he got-wait a minute! Where is he? Gaara-sama didn't hit him, he was in the air. No wonder. He landed on the statue. "Lee, take them off!" his sensei exclaimed. "But, Gai-sensei, I thought that was only permitted when protecting many important people." replied Lee-kun.

"I don't care! I will allow it!" Lee-kun started acting all happy, just what were they talking about? He uncovered his leg-warmers and revealed weights. Weights? Is his sensei that stupid to let him wear weights? The weights landed on the floor with a big bang. It almost destroyed the floor! I sweat dropped, what the hell?

He was moving a lot faster now. Heh, but not faster than me still but for Gaara-sama! He was, even able to hit him!

_Impossible!_

Then his sensei started yelling out something, are they even crazier than I thought? Anyway, Gaara-sama fell down to the floor! When Gaara-sama go up to the floor again- no way! Sand was falling off his face? He had… such an ugly expression, and not in the way other people mean ugly, but in a mean, vicious and powerful kind of ugly expression.

I looked towards Michiko… she even pulled a frightening face. No, he isn't a monster, I'm just not going to believe it! The sand covered his face, and he went back to that straight face again.

Now Lee-kun was getting even faster… what a guy. He kicked Gaara-sama towards the ceiling, going up and up. He wrapped him and then used a move. "Secondary Lotus!" he shouted. The landed with the floor cracking up a bit.

Gaara-sama…. Looked all cracked up, literally! Then he literally cracked up! Into bits of sand! How come I've never known all of this from the start? That's right, we haven't been talking much.

Soon some sand appeared behind Lee-kun, it revealed Gaara-sama with a big grin. He released more sand, this time it feels like he's gone wilder. Lee-kun was getting tossed around again, what happened to his speed?

Gaara-sama had that grin on his face again. This wasn't him just a few minutes ago. Sand was released as Lee-kun again and he got his speed back. I activated my Byakugan, he was moulding chakra. His skin was turning red, veins showed, just what kind of technique is he using?

He just lifted his feet off the floor and it made the floor crack? What the hell? Gaara-sama went flying into the air already? He had a cracked face. Lee-kun went right in front of him, then kicked him over and over across the room- wait a minute is he mocking me? Nevermind that for now.

I appeared in front of Kankurō and pushed him against the wall. "Kankurō, what is going to happen to Gaara?" I asked in a forceful and fearful way. "Heh, that's sort of hot, but don't go asking me…" he replied. I turned around slowly to look at what was happening. Jut very slowly already I could see just a slight bit of what was still happening.

Lee-kun's muscles were ripping, is he really taking a risk just to beat him? He punched Gaara-sama right in the stomach! "Primary Lotus!" He went crashing to the floor.

I widened my eyes then looked away and let Kankurō go.

Gaara-sama wasn't even hurt. He made the sand cover Lee-kun's left arm and leg. "Desert Coffin!" he shouted. Lee-kun screamed in pain. Gaara-sama was about to release more sand, but that Gai person got in the way.

**(No one's P.O.V.) (Oh see, this is the cool part)**

Suddenly, in the back of Gaara's head, appeared a picture of him, his siblings, his father, and Yashamaru and then there was a smiling Ai. It all shattered.

**(Ai's P.O.V.)**

"Why…. Why did you help him?" I heard Gaara ask. "He's… He's… an important subordinate that I love." replied Gai-san.

_Would… would Gaara-sama understand any of that?_

Lee-kun… Lee-kun got up again! "But… how? His arm and leg was crushed… how could he get up again?" I said. Gai-san hugged him… so he was unconscious then.

"Winner, Gaara." Hayate announced. Gaara walked back up to Temari and Baki-san. I guess the next match is coming up.

I went back to my teammates as well. We all looked at the screen.

**Manami**

**Vs.**

**Ayumu**

Those two? Now these matches are getting lame. They went to the arena. "Begin!" Hayate shouted.

They charged each other quickly. If I were to challenge those two on a two-to-one match, they wouldn't stand a chance. I smirked.

They were both throwing kunai and shuriken at each other, pretty fast. One of them just sliced Ayumu. It could have been his whole arm if one of his kunai made the direction change.

Manami kicked Ayumu in the face and made him go into the air then land on his back. Blood came out of his nose and arm. Hayate announced Manami as the victor.

Who knew? The quiet Manami could win a match? The finals will be interesting.

Manami coughed a little before going back to her teammates, it looked like blood as well, why was _she_ coughing out blood?

The next match was…

**Sayuri**

**Vs.**

**Kaoru**

So that sassy girl is going up against Kaoru, eh? I wonder how she'll react in this. "Begin." Hayate said.

"Come on Kaoru, I know you want to win, sugar. The thing is, you just can't…" she said before she quickly went behind him. Kaoru turned around and Sayuri punched him right in the face.

"What the hell?" Isamu asked. "How could she be that fast?"

"Heh, looks like we got competition…" I said grinning. Sayuri kicked him but then Kaoru dodged, Sayuri tried punching but then Kaoru blocked.

Sayuri was able to kick him in the stomach this time, Kaoru crashed into the wall behind him. I realised something at that moment. "What the hell? Why are you people copying me?" I shouted angrily. She smirked. "I'm sorry sugar, looks like you can't do anything about it." She replied. She poked her tongue at me, heh. She sure knows how to make me get all warmed up.

Kaoru landed on the floor unconscious. "Winner, Sayuri." Hayate announced. I looked at the board, I widened my eyes as I realised another thing. The next match might be-

**Aburame Kouki**

**Vs.**

**Inuzuka Isamu**

"W-wh…. What?" I asked. How could that be? They were my best friends… they're best friends… it can't be!

Before I knew it, the match had already started. But why pair them two up? They were the reason why… why I never gave up.

**Flashback**

Everyone left because of my strength. I sat down and hugged my knees and cried. Although I felt someone right in front of me, so I lifted my head up to see my classmates, Isamu and Kouki. "Don't worry, Ai-sama. We're here!" Isamu said as both of them smiled.

"Yeah, come on, wipe those tears away, there's no need for you to be crying. We'll be by your side." Kouki said after him.

"Don't give up."

"And you'll be a hero someday."

"Just like what we want to be, heroes…" Isamu and Kouki gave me their hand. I grabbed them and they lifted me up. Just then, I started crying again, no, I was crying out happy tears. We started messing around.

**End of Flashback**

They told me to never give up. We all went through everything together. It made me happy. But now, they're fighting each other. It just crushes our friendship.

They kept pushing each other to their limits. Both of them kept fighting. This isn't the way to go, this isn't the right path they should be following, and they shouldn't even be fighting each other.

Finally Isamu tripped and Kouki had the chance to kick him in the face and Isamu landed on the ground. Isamu slowly got up but as he did Kouki had already punched him in the face and then kicked him in the stomach.

Isamu landed back and Kouki won. I shed a tear but quickly wiped it off before anyone saw it.

Kouki came back up. "K-Kouki…" I said. He looked at me and then quickly turned away.

It was the last match, what was left on the board was…

**Dosu Kinuta**

**Vs.**

**Akimichi Chōji**

It was already obvious that the Kinuta guy would win. I wasn't really bothered to watch this one. My opinion on this match… a waste. "Winner, Dosu Kinuta." Hayate said.

Wow, the arena looked all torn up. Guess some of us got too carried away. "That concludes the Third Exam's preliminary matches." Hayate announced, these matches felt like forever! The winners went down to the examiners and the Hokage.

"To those who have made it to the main matches of the Chūnin Exam's Third Exam, all but one are here, so congratulations." Hayate said.

"I will now begin the explanation for the main matches." The Hokage announced. "Your main match fights will be shown in front of everyone. We wish all of you to show off your abilities as you country's representative power. Therefore, the main matches will begin in one month. In other words, we are going to announce the feudal lords and head ninja of the individual countries that the preliminary matches have ended. This is also preparation time for you candidates. This time is used so you can know your enemy and yourself better. It is a time to analyse the information you have gathered during the preliminary matches. The battles we had were just like real combat situations. It has been done where both parties knew nothing of each other. But the main matches will not be like that. There are those who have revealed everything to their rivals. To make things fair, work hard and improve yourselves on your own in the next month. There is something we must do before the main matches. Take a piece from the box that Anko is holding."

"I'll walk, so take it in turns." Anko said. "Take just one. Everyone picked one.

"Okay, everyone got one? Now, tell me what number you got, starting from the left. "Eight." Kinuta replied. "Eleven." replied Michiko "One." replied Naruto. "Seven." Temari said. "Five." said Kankurō. "Three." said Gaara-sama. "Ten." I said. "Fifteen." "Nine." replied Shikamaru. "Two." replied Neji-kun. "Six." said Shino-kun. "Twelve." said Manami. "Fourteen." said Ryou. "Thirteen." replied Sayuri.

"We will now tell you the match ups for the tournament. Ibiki, show them." The Hokage ordered. We looked at the results.

**Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyūga Neji**

**Gaara vs. Uchiha Sasuke**

**Kankurō vs. Aburame Shino**

**Temari vs. the victor of Dosu Kinuta vs. Nara Shikamaru**

**Hyūga Ai vs. Michiko**

**Manami vs. Sayuri**

**Ryou vs. Aburame Kouki**

… _Michiko…_

"These main matches will have judges, including me, Kazekage, as well as the feudal lords… and head ninja from the other countries, who will be potential clients. These judges will grade you by watching you in the tournament. And those who are qualified to be a Chūnin, even if they lose in the first round, will become a Chūnin.

"So there's a possibility that everyone here can become a Chūnin?" asked Temari.

"Yes, but that also mean that it's possible for no one to become a Chūnin. Wining the matches in the tournament means that you are able to show off your skills more. Understand, Shikamaru-kun? That is all. We are adjourned until next month."

Alright, did you like it! Then review and vote! Otherwise, that just tells me that you don't like the story *goes to the emo corner*

Anyway, about the poll it's about your favourite pairing with Ai, so vote!


	11. The Older me with my strength

Alright! Now this chapter features *spotlight* Tokkyu-chan! Tokkyu is from Akatsuki's Child written by my best friend in the whole world yerashi9921! Go look at her story. But don't flame her or Tokkyu and Ai will… well who knows what they will do, but it's not gonna be good!

And thank you to those who voted and reviewed or did both ^^ the others get nothing!

These people will get a free drawing from me, just go to my profile and message me what you want ^^

**Dango Shop**

Just when Anko-san told me that the dango here were great and I decided to come here, it's so crowded! I had to share a table with a girl a few years older than me, she had ginger hair and when I looked into her eyes, the looked pretty mean.

We both ordered a few plates of dango. "Hi, I'm Tokkyu from the rain village! And you are?" the girl beside me started talking. I decided to be friendly this time so I smiled. "Hyūga Ai, from the Hidden Sand. My hobbies are learning new techniques, and I like using my special Byakugan, well that's what Hiashi-sama says. I also like scaring my teammates. My dislikes are Michiko and my classmate, Ryou and anything sour. My dreams are that I will prove to Michiko that Gaara-sama isn't a monster, to take my revenge for my mum and dad and find my birth parents!" I replied happily and filled with spirit and a little loud.

"Wow, that's really interesting. I'll tell you a bit about myself. My hobbies are reading and training with my family. I like chirashizushi and seafood, and hanging out with my friend, Deidara. I dislike perverts." She said. Perverts? That's right, she must've been the one that Gai-san was chasing a few days before the exams started.

I leaned in closer towards her. "Do you mean that crazy guy with the bowel haircut and crazy grin?" Tokkyu-chan nodded. "Well… He's right behind you!" I screamed. This was totally hilarious! Tokkyu-chan turned and box the person behind her, and realised no one was there. I was laughing my ass off at the joke!

"Hey!" Tokkyu-chan yelled at me. Although she started finding it funny as well and we laughed together. Soon we had to leave since we were scaring all of the customers but it sure was funny!

"It's been nice knowing you Ai, I must go now, bye." Tokkyu-chan said before running off. I waved to her and then appeared in my room. She sure is somewhat like me, we could be friends, possibly even forever or maybe just a long time.

… **A few days later…**

It's been a few days, sure I've been training for the third exam but there was no need. Although Naomi-sensei has been acting a little strange lately. "Naomi-sensei, are you okay?" I asked her. "Huh? Oh, of course, I'm fine! Now you guys go ahead and train and meet new people and all that!" she replied and then disappeared. There was something definitely going on.

Oh well, I sighed. It was night time and there was a festival going on. Isamu was already healed, although we didn't talk about the exams, it could really get him into an emotional mood. I had an idea. "Alright guys! I want you to meet someone!" I said standing up from my bed. "Who is it?" they both asked. I smirked.

**The Festival**

"Hey! Tokkyu-san! Over here!" I called out to Tokkyu-chan while Isamu and Kouki ran behind me. "Ai, hey! What's up?"

"The sky is." I replied and we both laughed. I saw Isamu and Kouki sweat drop.

"I'm Tobi, Ai-chan! I'm Tokkyu-chan's sensei." Some guy with a mask on said in a cheerful voice. He was…

"Why is he wearing a pumpkin on his head?" I whispered over to Tokkyu-chan.

"Because his mum dropped him somewhere on the head when he was young." replied Tokkyu-chan.

"Oh."

"Hey, aren't you going to introduce the virgin to me and Mr. Play doh?" I heard someone say. I turned around to see a guy with silver hair combed back which was really weird. I glared at him and punched him right in the stomach sending him into the air and got caught by Tokkyu-chan. She glared at him, it felt like a special glare, a little different than others though.

"Hidan…" she said in a scary voice, "What did I say about treating other people?" He squeaked.

"I can't call them names."

"Yes. And you know what's gonna happen?"

"You're going to set me free?"

"No. But someone's going to get hurt real bad. Hiya!" She punched him as hard as ever. Alright, now I know someone else that's just like me!

"Ow! That hurt, bitch!" He cried and then she kicked him.

"I said shut up!" Me and my teammates starred at them, we saw her beat that guy up to death. "Oh how silly of me," Tokkyu said taking a little break from hitting that guy, "These are my teammates, Deidara," she pointed towards the blond kid, "And Hidan." And she continued punching Hidan in the ass.

I looked at Deidara for a moment up close. "Is he your boyfriend or something?" I asked. I saw both of them blush.

"No, we're just friends." They replied. That Hidan guy snorted, "Hell no. You should've seen them when they were- mmph!" They both attacked him in the middle of his sentence. "Help! Help! Someone save me! Help!" he shouted.

I started laughing, and then started laughing so hard that my stomach started to hurt that I knelt to the floor and held my stomach because of the pain of laughing so hard.

… **later that night…**

We spied on Tokkyu-chan and Deidara, those two were perfect for each other, I just knew it.

"Aha! It's about time! You guys owe me 100 ryo." Hidan shouted as we got out of the bushes, pointing at Isamu and he handed it over. I had an idea.

"Let's dump them into the lake!" I yelled out loud. We carried them on our shoulders and pushed them right off when we got the edge of the lake.

But then suddenly, a giant bubble formed around them. And smaller bubbles were coming up from the lake as well. It was amazing and beautiful, who knew that Tokkyu-san could control water? She and Deidara kissed and it looked so beautiful and sweet!

**Resort**

"Whoo! That was a fun festival! Why don't they have one like that every night? I'd go anytime!" I exclaimed as I entered our room. "You know what guys? We're gonna go to the Dango Shop tomorrow and meet up with Tokkyu again! I've already got plans on what we're gonna do…" I smirked.

Isamu and Kouki fell to the floor. "Hey, I wander if you're restin'…?"

… **The Next Day…**

**Dango Shop**

"I'll beat you, another plate boss!" I yelled, motioning the boss for another serving.

"Hell no! I am! One for me too boss!" Tokkyu-san hollered through a mouthful of food. We were having a dango-eating contest and as we put more dango in our mouths, more customers came in and saw us stuffing our mouths with dango. I even heard people making a bet on who would win, of course I would! "Keep going girls!" heard the shop owner shout, heh, he would probably be rich by the end of the day.

"Yeah! What he said! Keep eating, Bitches-ow!" We interrupted him by throwing some dango sticks at him. "Shut your good for nothing mouth!" we yelled at him.

"Awww…I was just joking- hey, get away from me! Help!" Hidan screamed, Tokkyu-chan and I were throwing a shower dango sticks. "Ow! My ass!" He went away limping. Serves him right.

… **After two epic dango-eating hours…**

"Ahh…I give up… You win…" Tokkyu said. She had eaten 89 sticks of dango, and felt as though she was one of Deidara's bombs, one that was going to explode any second. "Woohoo! You're going to pay for it!" Ai yelled, doing her victory dance.

We left the dango shop. Our stomachs were full, but Tokkyu-san's wallet was now half empty.

I spotted that little devil, Michiko! "Ai, what's wrong?" Tokkyu-chan whispered to me and nudged me. I pointed towards Michiko. "It's her, Michiko and her teammates Ayumu and Shun." I replied. She looked towards them and I glared.

"Ai, I see you've made friends, who is this, another loser?" Michiko asked. I knew Tokkyu-san would kill her any minute now. It makes _me_ want to kill her as well. I might as well stop it before anything bad happens. "Michiko, this is Tokkyu-chan, Tokkyu-chan, this is my rival Michiko."

Tokkyu-chan was glaring right at Michiko, it sure was unpleasant in a way. "Hmph. What a weak girl, you look frail, I'll defeat you in seconds." She said proudly. Tokkyu-chan's eyes narrowed, "Would you want to see?" she asked in a creepy voice. Michiko smirked.

"Bring it on, weakling." Tokkyu smiled, one that promise blood thirst. Ai looked at the two.

"Ok. Meet me in the training field, now." Tokkyu-chan said and we both disappeared. I somehow have a bad feeling about this.

**Training Field**

We arrived a little later than Michiko. "Finally, any last words before I defeat you?" asked Michiko.

"Yes. I'm going to make you eat those words." replied Tokkyu-san. "Begin!" Tobi shouted.

Michiko ran towards her with a kunai in her hand. "Eat this!" she yelled and she thrusted her hand at Tokkyu-san. She caught her hand without any hesitation. Michiko struggled to get free but no matter how hard Michiko struggled, she still got hold. "Heh, Michiko's the weakling." I thought.

Tokkyu-san applied more pressure on the hand, snapping it like a twig. Michiko screamed in pain, and tried to kick her. Tokkyu-san stepped on her foot, and gave her a side kick, sending her flying five feet from where she was standing. Now that was some serious fighting.

Michiko slowly got up, and teleported behind her using body flicker technique. She tried to punch her, but failed, again. Tokkyu-san started punching all the chakra points, before kicking her down to the floor. Tokkyu-san slammed her against the training post, holding her shirt collar. She whispered into her ear. "Foolish little girl, you can't defeat me, because you lack skill." Michiko eyes widen in horror. She didn't even put a scratch on Tokkyu-san at all. Tokkyu-san punched her, making her black out.

"Michiko!" Shun yelled and ran to her. I had a blank face, but then I still kept my cool. Shun started healing her, "You're a monster!" he shouted. Tokkyu-san slammed him to a post and said, "Shut up or I'll kill you."

I stood in the middle of the battling grounds with a blank face, "Pride comes from before a fall." was what Grandma Chiyo always said to me. I knelt down to get a closer look at Michiko. It was a few moments of silence and then I stood up and disappeared. "What a fool…hmph." I said to myself as I appeared in my room. "Tokkyu-chan is strong, really strong… I like it."

OK! End of chapter! Was it a little too long? Then I'm so sorry! Anyway, please review! Even though I said I would expect 20 reviews and 15 votes, I just had to write this chapter up.

Anyway, the poll is open! It will be open for a few months! So, a lot of time! Yeah, so results so far:

KibaAi – 3

SasuAi - 1

By the way, Ai doesn't care about Michiko in this chapter, just surprised, does NOT care. And review if you like, even if it's just one word, I would be very thankful of it, 'cuz I get sad when no one reviews…

The next one will just be her hanging out and training.. .but… will she let Neji surpass him with his special move, or will she try and learn it as well? Then review if you want to find out. And if you review from this chapter and onwards, then you will get a free drawing from me! No seriously, I can draw!

Just message me!


	12. The Hyuuga move

Well, this might be a quick chapter, 'cuz I'm going to school now, it's been a few days, sorry that I didn't tell you! But, updates will be slower until the holidays. Anyway, Enjoy!

It had been a few weeks since I've seen Tokkyu-san and her teammates. I had been training also, although it's not like I need it. I was in the forest training with Isamu and Kouki. I sighed and said, "I'm just as usual, I need to learn a better move or technique before the third exam starts. How about a Hyūga move…? Isamu! Kouki! Let's go! We're going to be spying on someone for a moment…" They immediately came to me and we were off.

We arrived in a place where I saw Neji-kun training with Tenten-san.

_Perfect!_

We saw them train for about an hour, he's using some kind of technique I haven't seen before… he's going past the human capabilities! With that technique… he could even beat me, but what was it?

We quietly left before they would notice. We were about three kilometres away from them now. "Isamu, Kouki. I'm gonna learn that technique! So train hard with me!" I announced. They were shocked, I would risk my life to learn that move? They would be thinking that, but that would be pathetic.

"Ai-sama. Wouldn't-"

"Isamu… you and Kouki have a lot of explaining to do as well, unless you give me a _specific_ reason of why you're not like the rest of your clan, you just keep thinking that I would take a risk at this time, obviously I'm not." I replied and interrupted Isamu.

We trained for the rest of the day. There was definitely something special within my Byakugan, for I knew how to use the same technique as Neji-kun within 12 hours without Neji-kun's guidance or anything else. I need to find out what's so special about my Byakugan.

We went back. But just before we could I sensed a chakra network coming near us. I widened my eyes in shock that he found us so quickly. "So… you tried spying on us didn't you?"

"…Neji-kun…" I muttered. My teammates stopped and looked back and it looked like they were ready to fight. I signalled them to stop before doing anything else.

"Answer… Hyūga Ai." He demanded. I turned to face him with Tenten-san by his side.

"Neji-kun, the reason isn't needed, it's the 'faith' of truth." I said. There were a few moments of silence. All that anyone could here was the wind passing by.

"Ai-san… don't try that move ever again."

"Me…? Me? Why _me_? What about you, you're the one that needs taking care of."

"Just because you have a special type of Byakugan that has never before seen in the Hyūga clan, doesn't mean that you're a part of the spoilt head family. You should know better, you shouldn't be like them, they are weaklings, Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama are spoilt and weak, they shouldn't be a ninja in the shinobi world. You understand this too, so why try and be like them? It wouldn't make you any better than a squashed ant…" more silence was present until I began speaking again.

"Neji-kun…" I was speechless after all.

"Nothing to say? Then I'm off, Tenten."

"Uh, okay." replied Tenten-san and they walked back to the village, slowly and silently. My team said nothing as well, just starring as they went back, after they had disappeared for a while, I turned to my right and crossed my arms.

It was silent, I bet they were arguing with themselves if they should move or not, or if they should actually do anything at all.

"Ai!"

Haha! Cliff hanger! =P Well, anyway, the poll is still up, it will be there forever, maybe for more than a year. Votes so far:

KibaAi: 5

SasuAi: 1

Okay! So please review! I want at least three, I'll have to update more often then, okay, bye! I should be able to update around 1-3 times a fortnight.


	13. No sight of him

Okay, just a quick chapter of the battles, even though in the series they are pretty long, okay! Let's get started! And unfortunately I didn't get any reviews f in the last chapter except from my best friend yerashi9921! You're the best! Also, one more vote for KibaAi, but people, please vote! I mean it only takes a few seconds just looking at your choices and then click vote, just simple… now, on with the chapter!

"Ai!" someone shouted running towards us.

"Temari-san?" I asked in surprise. "What's wrong?"

"Gaara… where… Gaara… have you seen… him?" she asked between pants. I widened my eyes.

"Why?"

"He… he's… He's gone!" she finally caught her breath. My eyes were widening slowly and they were as big as ever.

"Wh-Wh-What?" I whispered to myself. I finally shook my head out of my illusion. "Byakugan!"

I searched through the whole of Konoha, he wasn't anywhere, until I searched the hospital in the room that Lee-kun is resting in. That Shikamaru guy and Naruto are in there as well!

I told Temari where he was and we went to go get him but Isamu and Kouki stayed back for a while. "Why is he in the hospital? Why didn't you know?" I asked Temari-san. She looked at me in the corner of her eye and then back to the front. A drop of sweat was coming down her face, she was definitely hiding something.

_Why…? Why does EVERYONE hide something from me?_

I almost shed a tear, thinking of Gaara but I bit my lip so the tears won't come out, I knew Temari-san would be looking at me, I tried ignoring her. It was silent from there and on.

Once we got there, we quickly appeared at the door so no one would see us running in. For a moment I hesitated, one second I was about to open the door, the next I'm only an inch away and I stop. I think back for a moment, my eyes widen of the thought.

_What if… What if… he… is a monst- No, he can't be! But, what if he's just deadly, yeah, but that might be the same as being dangerous, and maybe he really is- no! Stop believing everyone else! Don't worry- but, he acted so cruel and deadly in the preliminary matches, and even in the forest, no I said that might've been someone else, but what if it really was Gaara. What if… he's just the same… as me?_

I look at the floor and drop my hand forcefully. Temari-san snapped me out of my illusion once she touched the handle and opened the door instantly. I widened my eyes and gasped quickly before realising that we were now in Lee-kun's room. Shikamaru and Naruto were standing on the other side of his bed… but no Gaara.

They looked at us as we walked further inside the room slowly. 'I'm sorry, you just missed him." whispered Naruto sadly. All of my hopes dropped so low that I jumped out of the window and appeared in the forest and punched a tree so hard that several trees behind it had fallen as well. I saw a tear drop to the ground. I again tried keeping them in but they were let out and they didn't stop until several minutes, that's when I had settled down a little. Although, tears still came out once in a while, I hugged my knees and cried, but not as much tears came out.

I heard someone coming towards me, I didn't move. I looked above. Isamu and Kouki… "Ai-sama, what happened?" asked Isamu. I gazed at Isamu then Kouki and looked at them both. It felt like déjà vu.

I looked at them one last time before jumping into Isamu's arms and let out all of my cries. I cried for the rest of the night while Isamu rubbed my back, I settled down for a while and thought back again.

Not seeing Gaara, why did it make me feel that way? Not seeing his presence, not seeing his smile that he used to have. Why did it all have to go away?

I felt tired and we all fell asleep that night in the forest.

At dawn we got up and got ready for the Third Exam, which was today. When we were back at the resort Naomi-sensei scolded us for disappearing. "Naomi-sensei, you always disappear." said Isamu. She froze for a minute then disappeared again. We all sweat dropped and carried on getting ready.

It was already early and it felt like hours since we came back, I went out for a walk. "Hey! Ai-chan!" shouted someone behind, once again, familiar so I turned around and spotted Kiba-kun running towards me! I was relieved that it was him and no one else.

He had his hoody off, it looked so cute, wait, I'm soo not going to go into that cute fight again like when I was six and came to Konoha.

"Kiba-kun…" I muttered.

"Ai-chan, uh… Good luck!" he said quietly, more like shyly, he smiled a Naruto smile with his arm rubbing his neck. Akamaru barked with encouragement as well, when Kiba-kun opened his eyes I noticed how soft they were this time and they spoke the truth. I shook my head a little and smiled back.

"Thanks, I'll be sure to do great!" I replied cheerfully. After a while I ended up doing the same thing as Kiba-kun did, rubbing my neck.

After I realised it, the Third Exam was gonna start soon. "I'm sorry Kiba-kun, I didn't realise it was getting late, I need to go to the arena, I'll see you there!" I said almost starting to sound like I was rushing.

"Oh, uh, sure, right, okay, uh I was just about to go and meet up with Hinata just now anyway, so I think we might be a little late. I-I'll see you later then!" he said shyly again and disappeared into the building.

Okay, I know, short chapter-please don't hurt me! I promise ALL of the fights will be in the next chapter so watch out! Also review and vote please! I know your there, don't lie…


	14. Happy Valentine's Day Ai

Just wanted to say HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! Here's a little filler before we go on to the exams. I hope you all like it! And no one voted on the poll, please vote! It only takes a few seconds to look at the choices and make a decision! If you don't, Ai will kick you all the way across the other side of the world… Enjoy! And this time it's not in Ai's POV!

"Hey! Ai-chan! Wait up! "someone called out to the indigo eyed Hyūga. She looked back to where the voice came from and spotted a girl named Hinata running towards her. She puffed as she came closer to Ai. When she had caught her breath, she stood up with a smile. "Ai-chan… Happy Valentine's Day… I was wondering if you would like to make some chocolates with me… to uh… eat?" asked Hinata trying to cover up her blush. Ai knew she had a crush on Naruto when she spotted them too together. She smirked as she saw her hiding her face, she knew she was going to give the chocolates to him.

"Okay then, I'll make some with you." replied Ai. Hinata looked at her in surprise and Ai giggled.

They went back to the Hyūga household and got out all of the ingredients.

"I hope Naruto will like these…" Hinata thought as she looked upon Ai and smiled.

"Hinata-sama, Ai-san, what are you doing, oh and Happy Valentine's Day." They heard as Neji came into the kitchen.

"Oh no… this is going bad so far…" thought Ai and Hinata. They gazed at him for a few moments before shaking their heads.

"Hm? Why won't you tell me? And why do you have ingredients for- wait…" they waited for Neji to continue. "Who are the chocolates for, Hinata-sama, Ai-san?" asked Neji.

"We're doomed!" thought Ai. They knew how protective Neji could be. Ai burst out laughing.

"They're not for anyone! We're just making them to eat!" exclaimed Ai trying to keep their plans a secret.

"Oh, okay, then may I have some after?"

"Uh, sure… why not?" Ai grinned nervously.

When Neji finally left the kitchen, they started making the chocolates. "Now, I'll have to make two batches of these…" muttered Ai to herself, although Hinata heard what she said and turned to face her.

"Why make two?" asked Hinata in a low and shy voice. Ai suddenly realised she had heard her and blushed immediately. She turned around and continued making the chocolates.

"… One for Kiba and one for Gaara…" she whispered quietly making sure that only Hinata could hear it and continued blushing madly. Hinata giggled softly.

When they finished with the chocolates they put them in a heart-shaped box. They both smiled at each other and blushed. The most embarrassing thing was actually giving the guys the sweets especially in public.

Ai went to find Kiba, this time not disappearing anywhere. When she saw him in the ramen shop with Naruto, she spotted Hinata walking by. She went over to her and they both knew what was going on. They entered the shop with a nervous feeling.

"K-K-Kiba-kun…" said Ai stuttering. He looked away from his bowl and turned to see Ai and spotted the chocolates. He curiously got up and walked over to her with Akamaru on his shoulder. He jumped down from Kiba's shoulder and circled Ai, going through her legs, jumping up high and happily barked. Ai smiled and pet him.

She stood up and nervously gave the chocolates to him. "Happy Valentine's Day, Kiba-kun." Said Ai trying to keep up her confidence. Kiba blushed madly and smiled.

"Thanks, you too Ai-chan…" replied Kiba and they were locked into each other's eyes. Ai gazed at him and he gazed back and they felt a sudden burst of happiness and love.

"Hey, Kiba, what the hell are you doing?" asked Naruto interrupting their gazes. They kept blushing but got mad and punched Naruto to the floor, especially Ai and how hard she did it that he almost broke the floor when landing. He got back up and pouted rubbing his head. "… Not doing that again…" he muttered to himself.

"Um, I gotta go, bye Kiba-kun, Hinata-sama!" said Ai waving goodbye as she rushed out of the shop. Kiba starred at her as she left and then was looking nowhere with a little bit of confusion on what just happened.

"Come one, what are you doing, seriously?"

"None of your…-"

"Um… Naruto-kun… Happy Valentine's Day…"whispered Hinata holding out the chocolates towards him.

Ai went looking for Gaara this time. She spotted Temari and ran over to her.

"Temari-san! Where's Gaara-kun?" asked Ai puffing.

"Hm…? Why Gaara?" asked Temari curiously. Ai started blushing again, gee, blushing seems to be the new style now, is it? She spotted the chocolates and smirked. "Oh, I get it now…"

"What? I mean, get what?"

"Ha ha, don't worry, he's in our room on the balcony, you can give them to him there." said Temari with a big grin as Ai ran off to her room. "Well she could at least say thank you…" whispered Temari to herself.

"Oh, and thanks!" shouted Ai. Temari blinked and was a little bit confused.

As Ai entered the room quietly closing the door behind her she saw Gaara on the balcony just like Temari said. She quietly and slowly walked over to him as he kept staring at the sky.

"G-G-Garra-kun… Happy Valentine's Day…"said Ai quietly and slowly lifted her hand up to give him the chocolates. He turned around and the looked into each other's eyes just like she and Kiba did. This time she slowly blushed and Gaara took the chocolates without and expression on his face. But on the inside, he was actually smiling… weird, huh?

"…Thanks, Ai…" he whispered slowly as he took the box of sweets. She gasped quietly. That was the first time he ever heard him say her name in a long time. She blushed again.

"You're welcome…" she said and left the room. Gaara continued staring at the sky.

"Ai… I want to be as nice as you someday…" Gaara thought, he sure thought that but he didn't look like he was thinking that.

Ai went back to her resort. She slowly walked to her bed and then dropped herself onto it. She sighed and smiled to herself. "Happy Valentine's Day Ai…" she thought to herself.

Okay! So please review! I love reviews! If you do I'll give you a bunch of chocolates! Just as a friend though… Anyway, again, vote, review and HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Also, there's a picture of Ai on my deviantart account, go to my profile to see my DA profile and look into my gallery and she'll be labelled 'Ai Hyuuga'


	15. Happy White Day Ai

Hey guys! Just another chapter before this story really does on go on a long hiatus. Hope everyone will support me when I focus on this story again, hopefully after a while after I finish my Super Junior fanfic I'll get back into Naruto again and continue the story. Don't worry, I'm still reading the new chapters and episodes.

I might be sounding a little selfish here, but I feel somewhat guilty that I'm leaving the story for a while. But anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter, and I know it's a little early to write this for White Day, but I just wanted to share with you the bond that Kiba and Ai and Gaara and Ai have.

Enjoy!

A month had already passed by since Ai exposed (sorta) her little crush on Kiba and Gaara. Being embarrassed when she gave the chocolates, it felt like it was just yesterday. But now she had gotten over that embarrassment and tried pretending like nothing happened, but still had that love for both of them.

"Ai-chan!" shouted a boy across the park from where Ai was sitting. She sat on a bench just a few metres from the boy.

She looked up from her hands that she was fiddling with and looked to see her childhood friend, Kiba Inuzuka. She smiled as he walked over and sat next to her with his hands in his pockets.

"Kiba-kun, what brings you here?" asked Ai tilting her head a little.

"Well, uh, since you know, today is uh…" replied Kiba. "White Day, I wanted to give you something in return…"

Ai was shocked. She forgot all about today.

"Oh, yeah, okay."

"First, close your eyes." commanded Kiba as Ai did as she was told. "Now, just wait." He said quietly going being the indigo haired mystery. He reached inside his pocket and in his hand was a silver necklace in the shape of a star with many points.

Dangling in his grasp, he put it on his childhood crush with a small feeling of embarrassment.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now." whispered Kiba smiling to himself.

Ai lifted her eyelids and spotted a silver necklace on her chest. She gasped and she grasped it in excitement.

"Kiba-kun….. thank you."

"No worries."

They talked for a while longer until it was almost sunset.

"I have to go, but again, thank you Kiba-kun." said Ai hugging the wild boy.

As Ai left she didn't notice a shadow behind her from all of her happiness. She was at her resort and landed on her bed. She sat up and thought something was strange. Isamu, Kouki and Naomi wasn't there, but she could feel the presence of someone in her room.

"…Ai." Someone whispered behind her. She jumped in surprise and fear until she noticed it was another childhood friend, Gaara.

"Gaara-kun." whispered Ai to herself.

"Ai, I brought you something." said Gaara holding something behind his back.

He revealed his gift to her, a glass statue of a sakura flower . Ai was so surprised and felt spoilt from the gifts she received. She slightly opened her mouth with happiness.

She carefully took the gift and placed it on her cupboard and, without knowing, she hugged Gaara so suddenly that he didn't have time to react. They blushed and let go staring into each other's eyes.

"Gaara-kun and Kiba-kun have such sincere hearts." thought Ai.

I know, pretty short, but I couldn't think of anything else. Anyway, thank you for everyone who reviewed this story.

See ya in a while!


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